Giovanni Lucchese

Giovanni (Hans) Lucchese (also: Luchese , Lucchesi ; * around 1510 in Pambio , Ticino ; † January 1, 1581 in Innsbruck ) was a Renaissance master builder who was particularly active as Ferdinand II's court master builder in Innsbruck.

Life

Giovanni Lucchese, who comes from an Italian master builder and stonemason family and was born in Pambio in Ticino, can be verified as a bricklayer in the imperial service in Prague since 1538/1539. In the service of Archduke Ferdinand II, he worked at Stern Castle in Prague after 1555, at the Belvedere Palace in 1559 and at Hradschin Castle from 1561 to 1564 . In 1561 and 1563 he traveled to Italy to recruit masters and masons.

Ambras Castle: The Spanish Hall in front of the High Castle

When Ferdinand II received rule over Tyrol and the foothills in 1564 , Lucchese came with him to Innsbruck, where he rebuilt the Hofburg among other things . He converted Ambras Castle from a medieval castle into a Renaissance castle and built the Spanish Hall there in 1570/71. Ferdinand II gave him a coat of arms in 1566 and appointed him court architect in 1567 .

Giovanni Lucchese was married to Domenica Aostalli, with whom he had three sons Domenico, Alberto and Adamo. Alberto Lucchese worked with his father on numerous buildings, later worked as an independent builder and succeeded his father as court architect in Innsbruck.

Lucchese brought the then new art of the Renaissance from Italy to Tyrol, which quickly caught on, but still used some late Gothic German elements.

Works

Church of the Haller Damenstift (today Sacred Heart Basilica)

• Stern Castle  on the White Mountain in Prague, 1555–1558 (with Giovanni Maria Aostalli and Bonifaz Wohlmut )
• Commandery of the Teutonic Knight Order in Chomutov , 1560
• Reconstruction of Ambras Castle , 1564–1567
• Ruhelust Castle , Innsbruck, 1565–1582
• Collegiate church and building of the Haller Damenstift , 1567–1569
• Reconstruction of the Hofburg , 1567–1577
• Extension of the Jesuit Church , Innsbruck, 1568
• Spanish Hall, Ambras Castle, 1570/71
• Pleasure palace and zoo on Ulfiswiese in Innsbruck, 1570–1572
• Holy Blood Chapel of the parish and pilgrimage church Seefeld, 1574
• Aschach Castle near Volders, 1576–1586 (with Alberto Lucchese; attributed)
• Silver chapel in the Innsbruck Court Church, 1577–1596

literature

• Lara Calderari: Giovanni Lucchesi. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . June 2, 2009 , accessed January 23, 2018 .
• Aldo Crivelli : Artisti ticinesi dal Baltico al Mar Nero. Unione di Banche Svizzere, Locarno 1969, p. 85.
• Sybille-Karin Moser:  Luchese, Giovanni (Hans). In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 15, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1987, ISBN 3-428-00196-6 , p. 275 f. ( Digitized version ).
• Barbara Weissteiner, Eleonora Bliem-Scolari: LUCHESE, Giovanni. In: Artisti Italiani in Austria. University of Innsbruck May 2007.