Jacopo della Quercia

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Illustration of Jacopo della Quercia in Le vite dei più eccellenti pittori, scultori e architetti by Giorgio Vasari
Part of the high relief of the Fonte Gaia (1409–1419) in Siena ( copy made by Tito Sarrocchi in 1868 )
The Fienile of Santa Maria della Scala in Siena with the original parts of the Fonte Gaia by Jacopo della Quercia

Jacopo della Quercia (* around 1374 or 1367 in Quercegrossa , municipality of Castelnuovo Berardenga near Siena , † October 20, 1438 in Siena) was an Italian sculptor of the early Renaissance . He is known as a pioneer of the Renaissance because of his education of the human body, which was trained in antiquity , and is considered the most important Sienese sculptor. Jacopo della Quercia worked mainly in Siena, Bologna and Lucca .

Life

Della Quercia, later also called della Fonte, was born as the son of the wood sculptor and goldsmith Piero di Angelo (also: Petro Agnolo, or Piero d'Angelo di Guarneri). He had at least one brother, Priam . Otherwise little is known about his life; besides his main places of work, stays in Florence , Milan , Venice and Verona are certain . Antonio Federighi was one of his students .

In 1401 he took part in the Florentine competition to design the north portal of the Baptistery of San Giovanni and was defeated by Lorenzo Ghiberti .

On behalf of the ruler of Lucca Paolo Guinigi, he created the sarcophagus for his wife Ilaria del Caretto, who died in 1405 . The putti used for the design on the outside are among the earliest examples of these figures since antiquity and are older than the more well-known Donatello's from the 1420s.

From 1425 he designed the reliefs on the main portal of the Basilica of San Petronio in Bologna.

One of his most important works was the design of the Fonte Gaia fountain in the Piazza del Campo in Siena. The figures were replaced by true copies by Tito Sarrocchi in the middle of the 19th century ; the originals are now in the Museum of Santa Maria della Scala in the Fienile room .

He was buried in the first cloister of the Church of Sant'Agostino in Siena.

Giorgio Vasari wrote a biography of della Quercia in the second volume of Le vite .

Major works

  • High reliefs of the Fonte Gaia (1409–1419) on the Piazza del Campo in Siena
  • Tomb of Ilaria del Carretto (1406) in Lucca Cathedral
  • Baptistery of San Giovanni (from 1417)
  • Reliefs on the main portal of the Basilica of San Petronio in Bologna (since 1425)

literature

Web links

Commons : Jacopo della Quercia  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Luca Bortolotti:  JACOPO di Piero (Jacopo della Quercia). In: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). Volume 62. Rome 2004.
  2. ↑ Peter Anselm Riedl , Max Seidel (ed.): The churches of Siena. Volume 1,1 (Abbadia all'Arco – S. Biagio), Bruckmann Verlag, Munich 1985, ISBN 3-7654-1941-9 , p. 54 (sixth grave in the first row).
personal data
SURNAME Jacopo della Quercia
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Piero, Jacopo di; Piero, Jacopo del maestro; Guerica, Jacopo della
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian sculptor of the early Renaissance
DATE OF BIRTH around 1367 or around 1374
PLACE OF BIRTH Quercegrossa
DATE OF DEATH October 20, 1438
Place of death Siena