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[Niccolò da Lorena; il Franciosino]

(b Saint-Mihiel, Meuse, c. 1567; d Rome, Nov 24, 1612).

French sculptor and ?painter, active also in Italy. He trained at Saint-Mihiel in the workshop of the Richier family, where he learnt the late Mannerist style current in Lorraine and much of northern Europe at the end of the 16th century. By c. 1590 he was working for Duke Charles III of Lorraine at Nancy, where he executed sculpture in wood (untraced). Late in 1592, at the expense of Charles III, he left for Rome, where he remained for the rest of his life.

Baglione reported that Cordier worked in wood in Rome, but by 1600 he had acquired sufficient reputation as a sculptor in marble to take part in Clement VIII’s decoration of the interior of S Giovanni in Laterano, for which he carved a marble high relief of an angel for the south transept. Stylistically it shares the traits of debased Mannerism common to many northern sculptors working in Rome. His first important works were a seated marble statue of ...

(b Caravaggio; d Rome, before June 27, 1543).

Italian architect and sculptor. He was a pupil of the sculptor Andrea di Piero Ferrucci. From c. 1527 to 1532 he was supervisor of the Fonte di S Pietro, Rome. He was conservator of the gilded ceilings of the basilica of S Maria Maggiore until 1541, and from c. 1542 he was also the architect to the Camera Apostolica (Vatican Works Office), a post he held until his death. For Angelo Massimo, Mangone constructed the Palazzo di Pirro (initiated c. 1533). In this, his first architectural work, he appears as a faithful follower of the severe style of Antonio da Sangallo (ii) with whom he worked on the decorations (1534) for the coronation of Pope Paul III and the fortifications (1537–43) of Rome. In 1535 he worked on the palazzo in Rome of Giacomo Simonetta, Cardinal of Perugia, and in 1536 he planned alterations to the convent of the Serviti attached to the church of S Marcello al Corso. In the same year, he executed the monument to ...

(b Eemnes, June 11, 1859; d Zeist, Oct 28, 1922).

Dutch architect. He was the son of a Dutch Reformed Minister and studied at Delft Polytechnic, where he was influenced by the Renaissance Revival doctrines of Eugen Gugel. For a long time Posthumus Meyjes himself worked in this style, most notably in his design for the administrative office (1882–4) of the Dutch Iron Railway Company at Droogbak 1A, Amsterdam. In 1882 he became architect to the railway company, in which position he designed the station in Delft, and in 1888 he established himself as an independent architect in Amsterdam, where he was appointed architect of the church buildings of the Dutch Reformed community. In this capacity he built several churches and supervised the restoration over several years of the medieval Nieuwe Kerk on the Dam in Amsterdam. Around 1900 Posthumus Meyjes’s style changed and began to show similarities to the work of H. P. Berlage, for example in the office building (...

(b Savona; fl Rome, 1551; d Rome, c. 1589).

Italian sculptor and restorer. While earlier sources incorrectly state that he was from Sarzana, more recent documentation accurately cites his birthplace as Savona. The biographical information pertaining to Sormani remains incomplete, but it is suggested that he worked as an apprentice in his father’s workshop in Carrara after spending his early childhood in Savona. Sormani worked in Rome from 1551 until his death, remaining there except for a brief return visit to Carrara in 1561–2, possibly concerning the death of his father. In addition to minor restoration and sculptural work in Rome during the earlier years of his career, Sormani is credited with an extensive amount of sculpture in the basilica of S Maria Maggiore, Rome. In 1574 Cardinal Felice Peretti (later Pope Sixtus V) commissioned a tomb for Pope Nicholas IV in S Maria Maggiore from his architect Domenico Fontana. Fontana designed the structure of the tomb itself, and Sormani completed the marble sculptures that stand within its three rectangular niches. Sormani executed for the central, more prominent niche a seated statue of ...

[Cristofano]

(b Bracciano, nr Rome, 1556; d Rome, Sept 22, 1619).

Italian sculptor and restorer. He was a little-known sculptor who also worked on the restoration of marble works excavated from archaeological sites. He trained in Florence in the circle of Bartolomeo Ammanati and Giambologna. This provided a Mannerist environment in which Stati acquired a good command of his craft and a certain elegance of style. Only a few of his works have been identified. These suggest that he was imbued with Classical culture, and wanted to recreate the artistic period that was recognized as a model of perfection: the Classicism of the age of Hadrian. During his time in Florence, between 1604 and October 1607, he carved the fountain with Samson Stopping the Lion’s Mouth (Aranjuez, Jardín de la Isla). This formed a pair with another group, by Giambologna (Samson and a Philistine, 1565–70; London, V&A; base, Aranjuez, Pal. Real), which has been identified with a work in the gardens of Aranjuez Palace in Spain. During the same period he carved the group of ...

(b Rome, 1538; d Rome, Oct 26, 1605).

Italian sculptor of Spanish descent. Although an accomplished artist, he has been neglected and at times categorically condemned by critics. His few surviving works reveal the influence both of Classical models, to which he was passionately devoted, and of the Florentine manner derived from Michelangelo. He studied with the Florentine Vincenzo de’ Rossi, who was in Rome between 1546 and 1560, and at first worked on restorations and adaptations of antique sculptures. Around 1572 he was listed among the members of the Congregazione dei Virtuosi al Pantheon. His period of greatest creative productivity began in the last years of the pontificate of Pope Gregory XIII. In 1583 he carved the Pope’s coat of arms in the two large marble escutcheons for the Collegio del Gesù, the rich curves of which are meticulously carved in the Florentine style of Bartolomeo Ammanati. In 1587–8 he worked with Pietro Paolo Olivieri to complete an ...

(b Feldhausen, Dec 31, 1893; d Cologne, May 25, 1978).

German art historian and conservator . He wrote his dissertation in Bonn on Early Renaissance art on the Lower Rhine, and from 1928 to 1951 he was in charge of conservation for the Rhineland. In 1933 he began teaching the care of monuments and Rhenish art at the Universität Bonn, where he was appointed honorary professor in 1939. During World War II Metternich was responsible for the protection of movable works of art in the Rhineland and in France, where he did extremely valuable work pursuant to the Hague Convention. After 1950 he worked for the West German Foreign Office to recover art works that had been taken abroad, and from 1952 to 1962 he was Director of the Bibliotheca Hertziana in Rome. Metternich’s scholarly work was dedicated to the art of the Rhineland. His special interests included Romanesque architecture and murals, such as Bonn Minster, Schwarzrheindorf, St Georg and St Aposteln in Cologne; Gothic churches such as Cologne Cathedral; Renaissance buildings (for example Schloss Rheydt) and such Baroque estates as Schloss Brühl. At the Bibliotheca Hertziana he devoted himself to architecture in Rome from the 15th to the 18th century and especially to problems concerning Bramante and the building of St Peter’s, Rome....