Stefano Lamberti

Stefano Lamberti, frame altarpiece of St. Francis , carved and gilded wood, 1502, San Francesco d'Assisi, Brescia

Stefano Lamberti, frame of a bridge on the cross by Bernardo Zenale and the Last Supper , carved, gilded and painted wood, 1509, San Giovanni Evangelista, Brescia

Stefano Lamberti (* 1482 in Brescia ; † November 23, 1538 there ) was an Italian sculptor and notary .

biography

Stefano Lamberti's father, Piero Lamberti, can probably be identified with a notary active in Brescia in the second half of the 15th century. It remains to be checked whether Stefano Lamberti is the notary of the same name, who was appointed in 1548 on the occasion of the Entry of the son Prospero in the civil register was already entered as dead in the Golden Book of the Brescian nobility.

There is no information available about Stefano Lamberti's artistic training, which could have taken place under the direction of the Milanese carver Bernardino di Coyri, who was named by Lamberti as his creditor in a register from 1517.

A monumental wooden, carved and gilded altarpiece frames the altarpiece of Saint Francis painted by Romanino for the main altar of the Church of San Francesco d'Assisi in Brescia from 1502 and is probably the first work that can be ascribed to him, particularly due to its clear stylistic features References to other documented works. The frame bears an inscription with the date of execution and the name of the client, the general of the Franciscan order Francesco Sanson, it was created many years before the painting by Romanino, which can be dated to the years 1516–1517. The original commission for the altar was entrusted to Leonardo da Vinci , but he never got beyond a schematic sketch. In order not to give up the project completely, Romanino was offered it as "second best".

At the altarpiece of St. Francis shows Lamberti a number of structural and decorative solutions that should ultimately be the permanent repertoire of his works as a carver. There are a multitude of ornaments that are very similar to the details that were experimented with on the friezes of the Palazzo della Loggia a few years earlier. A complex architectural set-up has been developed that is able to ensure a strong continuity with both the surroundings and the connected altarpiece. The figurative part of the frame contains two busts of holy bishops in panes and a pietà that crowns the upper frieze.

Lamberti's contract for the wooden frame for a Descent from the Cross by Bernardo Zenale for the Chapel of the Most Holy in the Church of San Giovanni Evangelista in Brescia dates from February 13, 1509. This is the first documented work of the sculptor. Probably as the back wall of a painting, its plasticity presents similarities with the columned portal of the Church of Santa Maria dei Miracoli, the greatest experimental innovation of the Renaissance style in 15th century Brescian sculpture. The wooden group of the Last Supper , which was set up as a predella for the altarpiece by Zenale, and the group in the upper arch with God the Father and angels also come from Lamberti .

On May 30, 1513, the parish commissioned him to create a real sculptural polyptych in two rows with six niches, which contains as many statues of Mary and Saints Christopher, Joseph, Francis, Rochus and Apollonius, above which God the Father, probably as a half-length figure in an arc. The lost work was originally in the Church of San Rocco and then, after being destroyed in 1516, in the Church of San Giuseppe, where it is mentioned until 1668.

In 1513 he was commissioned by a member of the Brunelli family to carve a statue of Saint Roch , which is now kept in the sacristy of the parish church of Bassano Bresciano . A payment receipt from the following year is known for this work.

Between 1509 and 1514 he made a wooden abbot Antonius for the parish church of Condino . The attribution of this work was first made by Papaleoni in 1890 and was unanimously accepted by the subsequent art critics.

Between 1515 and 1518 he carved the case for the organ of the old cathedral of Brescia, which was then replaced between 1539 and 1540 and transferred to the church of Santa Maria in Valvendra in Lovere in 1668 , where it was built together with that of Floriano Ferramola in collaboration with the still young Moretto painted doors is still preserved today. The frame for the altarpiece of Saint Justina , which Romanino painted in 1514 for the Basilica of Santa Giustina in Padua, now in the Musei civici di Padova , was also able to be erected in the same years. The actual authorship of this work is doubtful, however, as there are hardly any decorative figures that can always be observed on Lamberti's altarpieces.

Between 1518 and 1519 the sculptor carved the frame for the Madonna del Tabarrino , a panel by Alessandro Moretto in the Church of San Giovanni Evangelista in Brescia, a copy of an older fresco. Originally housed in the chapel of the Madonna del Tabarrino, it was probably lost during the renovations carried out by Alessandro Calegari in the 18th century.

Between the end of the 2nd and the beginning of the 3rd decade of the century there are several wooden art works with uncertain attribution. The group of the Risen Christ between Saints John the Baptist and Martin in the parish church of Vezza d'Oglio dates from this period.

Around 1520, the execution of a Madonna and Child on the Throne for the Church of San Girolamo in Gottolengo , which Lamberti was ascribed to thanks to stylistic counterparts, must be scheduled. It is noteworthy that the chapter of the Carmelite monks of San Girolamo appointed the notary "Stephanum de Lambertis" from Brescia as their procurator this year. The text does not mention the profession of carver, but it repeatedly raises the problem of the dubious, double professional qualification of the sculptor.

From the 3rd decade there is also the altarpiece of the high altar of the Church of Santa Lucia in Giustino , whose assignment, however, is controversial between Lamberti and Maffeo Olivieri. The authorship, albeit dubious, would be attributed to the first, on the basis of formal similarities with the Madonna in the church of San Rocco a Passirano , which is ascribed to him. A mix-up between the two sculptors in the attribution of the works is not new, not only because of the style context, but also because of the color coatings, which were probably always done by the same painter. The latter would be an unidentified “Zuan Antonio del lago Dalugano” or Paolo da Caylina il Giovane.

In 1530, a “Stefano intaiador” identified as Lamberti da Papaleoni received 400 lire for making a Pietà on the altar of the Scuola del Santissimo Sacramento in the parish church of Condino.

During his artistic maturity, Bruno Passamani suggested that Saint Martin Enthroned in the Parish Church of Corteno Golgi should be attributed to Lamberti , also because of the stylistic attribution of a Madonna Enthroned with Child , kept in the same church. The latter, however, does not come from Lamberti, but from Tiburzio Del Maino and can be dated between 1524 and 1529.

In 1530 Stefano Lamberti took over from Agostino Castelli the position of mayor of Brescia, which he held until his death. In the same year he was commissioned to develop a model for the new portal of the Palazzo della Loggia, which was then carried out by Nicolò da Grado and which still exists today. Other contracts include some work on the Garzetta Fortress, which no longer exists, and various maintenance work on the city walls.

According to Pandolfo Nassino, Lamberti died in Brescia on November 23, 1538.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Fenaroli, p. 278
2. ↑ Guerrini Paolo, p. 83
3. ↑ Guerrini Paolo, p. 82
4. ↑ ^{a b} Peroni, p. 800
5. ^ Enciclopedia Treccani, "Lamberti Stefano", Vol. 63
6. ↑ Agosti, p. 78, N. 36
7. ↑ Fenaroli, p. 279
8. ↑ Fusari, p. 31
9. ↑ Boselli 1962, pp. 21-24
10. ↑ Papaleoni, p. 52
11. ↑ Attardi, Bayer, p. 249
12. ↑ Guerrini Sandro 1986, p. 15
13. ↑ Boselli 1951, p. 4
14. ^ Spada Pintarelli, p. 72
15. ^ Spada Pintarelli, p. 83
16. ↑ Papaleoni, p. 65
17. ↑ Peroni, p. 807
18. ↑ Casciaro, p. 342.
19. ↑ Boselli 1957, p. 359

literature

• Stefano Fenaroli: Dizionario degli artisti bresciani . Brescia 1887 (Italian, reprint 1996).
• Giuseppe Papaleoni: Le chiese di Condino prima del 1550 . In: Archivio trentino . tape IX , 1890 (Italian).
• Paolo Guerrini: I Lamberti di Brescia . In: Rivista del Collegio araldico . tape XXII , 1924 (Italian).
• Camillo Boselli: Sculture lignee bellezze ignote . In: Brescia . tape II , 1951 (Italian).
• Camillo Boselli: L'architetto comunale di Brescia nel secolo XVI . In: Atti del V Convegno nazionale di storia dell'architettura . Florence 1957 (Italian).
• Camillo Boselli: Stefano Lamberti a Brescia e l'ancona lignea di San Rocco . In: Arte lombarda . tape VII , 1962 (Italian).
• Adriano Peroni: L'architettura e la scultura nei secoli XV e XVI . In: Storia di Brescia . tape II . Milan 1963 (Italian).
• Sandro Guerrini: Un'inedita Madonna di Stefano Lamberti a Gottolengo . In: Brixia sacra . tape XIII , 1978 (Italian).
• Sandro Guerrini: Per Stefano Lamberti, il Moretto, e per la storia del monastero di S. Giovanni a Brescia . In: Brixia sacra . tape XXI , 1986 (Italian).
• Andrea Bayer: La "soasa" a Brescia: le cornici della prima metà del Cinquecento . In: Alessandro Bonvicino il Moretto . Brescia 1988 (Italian, exhibition catalog).
• A. Bacchi: Sant'Antonio Abate e Cristo morto tra la Vergine e San Giovanni . In: E. Castelnuovo (ed.): Imago lignea. Sculture lignee del Trentino dal XIII al XVI secolo . Trento 1989 (Italian, exhibition catalog).
• Luisa Attardi: Girolamo da Romano detto Romanino, Madonna con il Bambino e santi . In: A. Ballarin, D. Banzato (eds.): Da Bellini a Tintoretto . Rome 1991 (Italian, exhibition catalog).
• Giovanni Agosti: Sui gusti di Altobello Averoldi . In: Elena Lucchesi Ragni, Giovanni Agosti (eds.): Il polittico Averoldi di Tiziano restaurato . Brescia 1991 (Italian, exhibition catalog).
• Pier Virgilio Begni Redona: Pitture e sculture in Ss. Nazaro e Celso . In: La collegiata insigne dei Ss. Nazaro e Celso in Brescia . Brescia 1992 (Italian).
• Sandro Guerrini: Maffeo Olivieri e il monumento Averoldi . In: Civiltà bresciana . tape I , 1992 (Italian).
• Vasco Frati, Ida Gianfranceschi, Franco Robecchi: La loggia di Brescia e la sua piazza . tape II . Brescia 1995 (Italian).
• Bruno Passamani: San Martino in trono . In: Nel lume del Rinascimento. Dipinti, sculture ed oggetti dalla diocesi di Brescia . Brescia 1997 (Italian, exhibition catalog).
• Silvia Spada Pintarelli, Elisabetta Arrighetti Tomasoni: Stefano Lamberti e Maffeo Olivieri: questioni di stile e di tecnica . In: Perusini (ed.): La scultura lignea nell'arco alpino. Storia, stili e tecniche 1450-1550 . Udine 1999 (Italian, conference proceedings).
• Raffaele Casciaro: La scultura lignea lombarda del Rinascimento . Milan 2000 (Italian).
• Giuseppe Fusari: Il Cinquecento lombardo. Since Leonardo a Caravaggio . Milan 2000 (Italian, exhibition catalog).
• Ulrich Thieme, Felix Becker: Artist Lexicon . tape XXII .
• Francesco Sorce:  LAMBERTI, Stefano. In: Mario Caravale (ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). Volume 63:  Labroca-Laterza. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 2004.