Giovanni Maria Mosca

Giovanni Maria Mosca , called il Padovano , (* 1493 probably in Padua , † 1574 in Krakow ) was an architect , sculptor and stonemason of the Renaissance . Mosca belonged to the second generation of Italian artists who worked at the Krakow royal court.

Life

Giovanni Maria Mosca was probably born in Padua around 1493 . In his home town he learned sculpture from 1507 to 1512 in the workshop of Giovanni Minelli and his son Antonio. The first independent work Mosca was a bronze relief, which he for the Baptistery of the Cathedral of Padua made in 1516th

Between 1520 and 1528 he created the marble reliefs “The Judgment of Solomon” and the “Miracle of Saint Anthony”. The “Judgment of Solomon” is on display in the Louvre , while the second relief is one of the nine marble reliefs that adorn the burial chapel of Saint Anthony of Padua in the Basilica of Saint Anthony . He owed the commission for the last work, which was completed by Milanese Pietro Paolo Stella in 1529, to his acquaintance with his master Giovanni Minelli, who was appointed builder of the new chapel in 1500 and who played an important role in the artistic ambience of the city in Padua.

At the same time Mosca was also active in Venice , so he had probably opened a workshop in the lagoon city in September 1522 at the latest. In Venice he worked on the main altar of the Church of San Rocco as well as on statues and groups of figures for the churches of Santa Maria Mater Domini , Santo Stefano , Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari and the church of Santa Maria delle Vergini, which later fell victim to the expansion of the arsenal .

A whole series of marble reliefs, which he and his workshop produced almost in series, also date from his time in Venice. These reliefs with motifs from mythology and Roman hero figures can be found in various European museums. Mosca lived in Padua until 1529. In the same year he got married in the city on the Bacchiglione river .

In 1532, at the behest of King Sigismund the Elder, he came to the Polish royal court in Krakow, initially to design medallions for the royal family. The medallions of Queen Bona Sforza , Prince Sigismund II August and Princess Isabella Jagiellonica have been preserved . In the same year he joined the workshop of the Florentine Bartolomeo Berrecci , with whom he worked on the Sigmund Chapel in Wawel Cathedral until the following year . The portrait of Sigismund the Elder on the grave slab goes back to Berrecci and Padovano. In 1533, after the chapel was completed, he set up his own workshop in Krakow. In the following years, however, he continued to work with Giovanni Cini , Hieronim Canavesi and Jan Michałowicz .

One of his first independent commissions was the ciborium of Wawel Cathedral, which he completed in 1536. Until 1540 he created the tomb of Bishop Stanisław Oleśnicki in the Poznan Cathedral . Then he created the tombs of his numerous wives in the Sigismund Chapel on behalf of Sigismund II August. None of these early works by Padovano have survived. From 1545 to 1547, at the behest of Queen Bona Sforza, he created the tomb of Archbishop and Primate of Poland Piotr Gamrat in the Gamrat Chapel of Wawel Cathedral. From 1552 to 1554 he created the ciborium of the Kraków St. Mary's Church . In 1554 he also completed the tomb of the Archbishop and Primate of Poland Nikolaus Dzierzgowski in the Arch-Cathedral of Gniezno . From 1558 to 1559 he rebuilt the fire-damaged Kraków's Gothic Cloth Hall in the Renaissance style.

1560 followed the tomb of the cavalry master Jan Kamieniecki in the Franciscan church in Krosno . He worked on the tomb of Grand Hetman Jan Amor Tarnowski in the cathedral in Tarnów from 1561. After the death of his son Jan Krzysztof Tarnowski in 1567, he converted it into a double grave. Also in 1567 he built a palace for Bishop Samuel Maciejowski just north of Krakow. He also redesigned the tomb of the last Jagiellonians in the Sigismund Chapel from 1571 to 1574 into a double grave, where he created the figure of Sigismund II August, placing the son under the father Sigismund I. Some of the work on the royal castles on the Wawel and in Niepołomice go back to him, as well as the renovation of the town hall in Sandomir .

Giovanni Maria il Padovano had a long and fruitful creative period, initially 20 years in Padua and Venice, then 42 years in Krakow. Many of his works in Poland are no longer preserved , especially due to the eventful history of Poland-Lithuania . Nevertheless, you can still see numerous of his works in and around Krakow.

Create

Of the works of Giovanni Maria Mosca, apart from the above-mentioned churches in Padua and Venice:

• Marble relief of the judgment of Solomon in the Louvre in Paris
• Marble relief of the Anadyomene in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London
• Marble relief "Muzio Scevola" in the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden and in the Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh
• Marble relief of Philoctetes in the Palazzo Ducale in Mantua , in the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg and in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London

In Poland:

• Tomb of Sigismund I the Elder and Sigismund II August in the Sigismund Chapel of the Wawel Cathedral
• Medallions of the royal family of the last Jagiellonian
• Tomb of Archbishop and Primate of Poland Piotr Gamrat in the Gamrat Chapel of Wawel Cathedral
• Ciborium of St. Mary's Church in Krakow
• Tomb of the Archbishop and Primate of Poland Nikolaus Dzierzgowski in the Arch-Cathedral of Gniezno
• Krakow Cloth Hall
• Tomb of the cavalry master Jan Kamieniecki in the Franciscan church in Krosno
• Tomb of Grand Hetman Jan Amor Tarnowski and his son Jan Krzysztof Tarnowski in Tarnów Cathedral
• The tomb of Mikołaj and Piotr Firlej in the Firlej Chapel of the Dominican Basilica in Lublin
• Bishop's Palace by Samuel Maciejowski
• Sandomir Town Hall

Works

Jagiellonian Tomb

Ciborium Marienkirche

originally Tomicki tomb

Firlej tomb

Kamieniecki tomb

literature

• Beatrice Cirulli:  MOSCA, Giammaria, detto il Padovano. In: Raffaele Romanelli (ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). Volume 77:  Morlini-Natolini. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 2012.
• Helena Kozakiewiczowa: Renesans w Polsce. Jan Maria Mosca between Padovano. Warsaw 1983, ISBN 83-213-3042-8 .

Web links

Commons : Giovanni Maria Mosca  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} Beatrice Cirulli:  Giovanni Maria Mosca. In: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI).