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Italian family of painters and draughtsmen. They were active in Florence from the second half of the 16th century to the first quarter of the 17th. Alessandro Allori enjoyed a career in the mainstream of the Florentine Mannerist tradition. Essentially an imitator, he produced work that was most characteristically influenced by Bronzino, Vasari and Michelangelo. His son ...

(b Lisbon, 1458; d Coimbra, 1543).

Portuguese bishop and patron. He was the son of Lopo de Almeida, the 1st Conde de Abrantes (d 1508), and brother of Francisco de Almeida (1450–1510), the first viceroy of India. Jorge de Almeida was closely connected with the royal court of Portugal and in 1490 accompanied John II to the border of Spain to meet the King’s future daughter-in-law, Isabella of Castile (1470–98). As Bishop of Coimbra, he instituted a systematic revival of art at a particularly fortunate period of history, facilitated by the length of his episcopal rule (1481–1543). He was the principal benefactor of the Sé Velha (Old Cathedral, c. 1150–1200) in Coimbra, which he began to modernize in 1498 by giving it suitable surroundings and widening its broad façade. At the same time, with the permission of the chapter, he commissioned from the Flemish wood-carvers Jean d’Ypres (...

(fl Lisbon, c. 1720–60).

Portuguese decorative artist. His apprenticeship was probably undertaken with Master PMP, the painter of glazed tiles. His most important commission between 1729 and 1731 was for the panels of blue and white tiles, made in Lisbon, that cover the lower storey of the cloister of Oporto Cathedral, which represent scenes from the Song of Solomon. These panels are characteristic of the High Baroque phase of tile-making and show an appreciation of theatre and stage design in the deepening landscape backgrounds of the figurative panels, in the bold outlines and in the enlarged ornamental framing. The spectacular arched frames of the Oporto panels were influenced by Roman Baroque architectural ornament.

The attractive blue and white panels (c. 1735–45) in the cloister of the monastery of S Vicente de Fora, Lisbon, are attributable to Almeida. They contain landscapes, buildings, gardens, Baroque fountains, hunting scenes and other secular subjects, some after the engravings of ...

(b c. 1480; d Regensburg, Feb 12, 1538).

German painter. He was one of Germany’s most innovative artists in an era spanning late medieval piety, the Renaissance and the Reformation, and his work reveals many facets of a changing society. It is especially noteworthy for an expressive use of nature and for introducing landscape as a theme of its own in art. In this respect Altdorfer is the central figure of the Danube school.

Altdorfer became a citizen of Regensburg in 1505 and bought a house there in 1513, another in 1518 and a third in 1532; he also owned several vineyards. From 1517 he held seats on the outer and inner councils of Regensburg and represented the city on important official business. In 1526 he was appointed city architect and constructed a municipal slaughterhouse and a building for wine storage. In 1529–30 he was also charged with reinforcing certain city fortifications in response to the Turkish threat. Except for the will he dictated on the day of his death, there are no surviving papers or letters by him; nor are there contemporary writings about him. The closest thing to a portrait of Altdorfer is found in an illumination in the ...

(Alta Emps, Hohenems)

Italian family of patrons, of German origin. The Hohenems family from Salzburg Italianized their name when Cardinal Marcus Sitticus Altemps (1533–95) brought the dynasty to Rome. A soldier by training, he pursued an ecclesiastical career under the patronage of his uncle, Pope Pius IV (reg 1559–65). Marcus was made Bishop of Konstanz in 1561 and legate to the Council of Trent. He began the development of the massive Villa Mondragone (see Frascati), to the designs of his house architect Martino I Longhi (i); Pope Gregory XIII (reg 1572–85) often visited it. Through papal favour he accumulated enormous wealth, which he used to rebuild the Palazzo Riario near Piazza Navona, Rome, into a magnificent family palace (known thereafter as the Palazzo Altemps) and to build the Altemps Chapel in S Maria in Trastevere; both of these designs were by Longhi. Effects of the Cardinal’s patronage or his generosity survive in the many estates that he purchased or received as gifts, at Loreto, Gallese and in the area around Frascati (e.g. at Mondragone, Monte Compatri and Monte Porzio). ...

(fl 1552; d Florence, Sept 21, 1605).

Italian painter. He was a pupil of Pontormo and Bronzino. In July 1552 he was sent to Como by Cosimo I de’ Medici to copy the portraits of famous men in Paolo Giovio’s museum. By the end of May 1553, Cristofano had sent 24 finished portraits to Florence, followed by 26 more by September 1554 and another 25 by October 1556. The following month Cristofano received 100 scudi from Cosimo. By 1591 the works had been transferred to the corridors of the Uffizi, where they form part of the museum’s large collection of portraits. During his stay in Como, Cristofano travelled to Milan to execute two portraits of the Duchess Ippolita Gonzaga in competition with Bernardino Campi, who was declared the winner. (One of the portraits went eventually to her father, Giuliano Groselino.) In November 1562 Cristofano was noted as treasurer of the Accademia del Disegno in Florence, which received its official recognition in ...

(b Barletta, 1637; d after 1695).

Italian painter. He received his first artistic training in the workshop of Carlo Rosa in Apulia, although his earliest known works, the Holy Family (1675; Barletta, S Maria della Vittoria) and a painting of the same subject attributed to him (Barletta, Pal. Monte di Pietà), reveal the influence of Cesare Fracanzano and Francesco Cozza. Altobello probably went to Naples during the 1670s and was certainly living there in 1687. Works attributed to him from this period are the Vision of St Ignatius (Naples, S Ferdinando) and a Visitation and Vision of St Francis (c. 1680; both Naples, S Maria la Nuova). They show his full acclimatization to the Neapolitan Baroque, clearly reflecting the monumentality of Giovanni Lanfranco, the tonal contrasts of Luca Giordano and the chiaroscuro of Mattia Preti; they represent the height of Altobello’s artistic development. Also attributed to his Neapolitan period is St Jerome (Naples, Pin. Pio Monte della Misericordia). Numerous canvases, listed in the inventory of ...

(b Rome, Nov 26, 1491; d Rome, Jan 22, 1557).

Italian banker and patron. He was born of a noble Florentine family. At the age of 16 he inherited the family bank in Rome and, after the closure in 1528 of the rival bank founded by Agostino Chigi, became the most important papal financier in the city. Despite his position as Florentine consul in Rome, he was vigorously opposed to the Medici regime and his residence near the Ponte Sant’Angelo became the gathering place of many Florentine exiles. This palazzo was restored by Altoviti in 1514 (destr. 1888) and housed a rich collection of antiquities from Hadrian’s Villa (see Tivoli, §2(ii)) and many commissioned works. Raphael painted for Altoviti the Madonna dell’Impannata (1511–16; Florence, Pitti) and his portrait, which is generally agreed to be the one (c. 1518) that is now in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. In 1534 Francesco Salviati also executed a portrait of Altoviti (untraced) and frescoed the arms of Pope Paul III on the façade of the palazzo. Benvenuto Cellini made a magnificent bronze portrait bust of the banker (...

(b ?London, c. 1470; d ?London, 1532).

English goldsmith. He was the son of a London goldsmith and was the most successful goldsmith working at the Tudor court; his work bridged the transition between the Gothic and the Renaissance styles. He was an official at the Mint from 1504 to almost the end of his life, his appointment possibly facilitated by his marriage to Elizabeth, granddaughter of Sir Hugh Bryce (d 1496), Court Goldsmith to Henry VIII. In 1524 Amadas became the first working goldsmith to become Master of the Jewel House to Henry VIII, an office he retained until 1532, supplying spangles, wire and ribbons to the court. In the 1520s his orders included a large amount of plate for gifts to foreign ambassadors; he also supplied a number of New Year’s gifts for the court. Cardinal Thomas Wolsey was one of Amadas’ most important clients, and Amadas supplied him with a number of lavish objects. Other clients included ...

(b Pavia, c. 1447; d Milan, Aug 28, 1522).

Italian sculptor and architect. He was principally active in Bergamo, Cremona, Milan and Pavia. His professional success, in terms of the architectural and sculptural commissions and official appointments that he received, was far greater than that of any of his contemporaries in Lombardy in the late 15th century, including Bramante. Amadeo’s influence in both fields, for example in his use of all’antica ornament of local origin, was considerable.

He was trained as a sculptor and evidently apprenticed to Francesco Solari (fl 1464–71) in Milan and at the Certosa di Pavia (see Pavia, §2, (i)). In 1466 Amadeo assisted in the decoration of the large cloister of the Certosa and was apparently responsible for the terracotta lavabo in the small cloister. His first signed work, directly influenced by the Late Gothic style of Solari, is the carved portal in the small cloister with a lunette of the ...

(b Motta di Livenza, 1505; d San Vito al Tagliamento, March 9, 1588).

Italian painter and draughtsman. His father’s name was Leonardo, his mother was Natalia Amalteo, sister of the humanist poet Paolo Amalteo and the Latin scholar Francesco Amalteo. Probably in 1515 Pomponio entered Pordenone’s workshop and is thought to have collaborated in the numerous works executed by Pordenone in Friuli between 1524 and 1529. Amalteo’s first independent works were frescoes of Virtues inspired by Roman historical subjects for the Palazzo del Consiglio dei Nobili, Belluno (1529, destr. 1838; fragments Belluno, Mus. Civ.; Treviso, Mus. Civ. Bailo; Venice, Correr). Although the influence of Pordenone is strong, the fragments reveal an original artistic personality capable of producing compositions of classical dignity, less bold perhaps than his master but employing a more spirited and luminous range of colours.

In 1534, with his career as a panel painter well established, Amalteo married Pordenone’s daughter. His earliest surviving altarpieces and panels date from around this time. After Pordenone’s departure from Friuli in ...

(de )

(b Vacarisses, 1704; d Barcelona, Feb 14, 1782).

Spanish architect, engineer, and administrator, active in Peru. He was the second son of the Marquis de Castellbell and received military training at an early age. He served as Spanish governor in Chile (1755–61), acquiring a reputation there as a fortifications expert. In 1761 he was appointed Viceroy of Peru, where he launched a vast campaign of public works (see Peru, Republic of §III 1.). During his administrative term, which lasted until 1776, the city of Lima enjoyed a period of prosperity and splendour marked by the French Baroque taste favoured by the Spanish Court. The evidence strongly suggests that Amat was the designer of several monuments in Lima that were executed by the alarife (surveyor and inspector of works) Juan de la Roca, who may have also collaborated in the elaboration of some of the plans. Amat’s masterpiece was the church of Las Nazarenas (consecrated ...

(b Palermo, 1643; d Palermo, 1732).

Italian architect. He was called to Rome in the 1670s by his Order, the Padri Ministri degl’Infermi, to work first as an assistant to Carlo Bizzaccheri then as supervisor on the enlargement of the convent of the Crociferi. Returning to Palermo by 1685, he produced work that showed Roman influences. His studies for the façade of the monumental church of La Pietà (1678–1723), with which he became associated in the late 1680s, fuse elements from S Andrea della Valle and Girolamo Rainaldi’s S Maria in Campitelli, both in Rome. While subduing the horizontal plasticity of the Roman façades, however, Amato intensified the vertical stress of his own: his free-standing superimposed columns are placed at the sides like a partially drawn-back screen, an effect enhanced by his use of the contrasting colours of tufa and Billiemi limestone. The façade’s circular window, a clear medieval reference, is characteristically Sicilian and distinguishes the building from contemporary Roman design. The interior decoration (1690s) is striking for its use of vernacular forms and such gilded metalwork as the nun’s grille at the west end, which rises like an elaborate fan into the grand barrel vault. The discrepancy between the broad lower and narrow upper storeys of S Teresa alla Kalsa (...

(b Ciminna, Jan 24, 1634; d Palermo, July 3, 1714).

Italian architect, writer and painter. He trained as a priest in Palermo and entered the Padri Ministri degl’Infermi. Another member of this Order was Giacomo Amato, with whom he worked, although they were not related. While serving as a chaplain Amato studied geometry, architecture, optics and engraving. His earliest known artistic work is a painting on copper of the Miracle of S Rosalia (1663), the patron saint of Palermo. After 1686 he created many works of an ephemeral character. For the feasts of S Rosalia and for important political events he provided designs for lavish triumphal chariots, probably developed from those by Jacques Callot, triumphal arches and other ceremonial apparatus set up on principal roads and piazzas, and he painted hangings, papier-mâché models and massive altarpieces for the cathedral. These works influenced Amato’s permanent architecture. The spiral columns of the campanile of S Giuseppe dei Teatini, Palermo, recall the festival designs of ...

(b c. 1505; d Augsburg, 1 Nov 1561–19 Oct 1562).

German painter and draughtsman. His family came from the Upper Palatinate. He served his apprenticeship in Augsburg, probably with Leonhard Beck, whose daughter Barbara he married. He became a master on 15 May 1530 but rarely signed his work. He was in northern Italy and Venice c. 1525–7. His full-length pendant portraits of a husband and wife (both 1525; Vienna, Ksthist. Mus.) show Venetian influence, and the portrait of Anton Welser (1527; priv. col., see 1980 exh. cat., p. 98) is in the Italian style. According to Sandrart, during the Imperial Diet of 1530 in Augsburg Amberger painted a portrait of Emperor Charles V to the Emperor’s satisfaction, but the surviving work (Berlin, Gemäldegal.) dates from 1532, based on the age given. In the decades that followed, Amberger was the favourite portrait painter of ambitious merchant families, such as the Fugger family, who belonged to guilds but were connected with the nobility by family or marriage ties....

(b Florence, before March 12, 1446; d Lucca, 1496).

Italian painter and illuminator. He was a Camaldolite monk; his appointment, from 1470, as Abbot of Agnano, Arezzo, and Val di Castro, Fabriano, was disputed, since he never resided at either abbey. His work is known from a signed triptych of the Virgin and Child Enthroned with Saints (1460–67) in SS Martino e Bartolomeo at Tifi, Arezzo (in situ). It shows the influence of the most fashionable Florentine artists of the time, such as Neri di Bicci, and such artists from the Marches as Giovanni Boccati and Gerolamo di Giovanni da Camerino. The most noteworthy aspect of the altarpiece, however, is its chromatic quality. This undoubtedly derives from the work of Piero della Francesca and has made it possible to identify Amedei as the collaborator to whom Piero entrusted the small predella scenes and pilaster figures of the polyptych of the Misericordia (Sansepolcro, Pin.), a work that can be dated by the final payments made in ...

Swiss family of collectors of German origin. Johannes Amerbach (b ?Amorbach, c. 1450; d Basle, Dec 25, 1513) gained his MA at the Sorbonne, Paris, and trained as a printer in Nuremberg and Venice. In 1482 he settled in Basle, where in 1484 he founded his own print shop and publishing house. He was in close contact with Albrecht Dürer during the latter’s stay in Basle (1491–2). Apart from works of art for personal use, for example ornamental daggers, he probably owned graphic and print blocks for woodcut illustrations by Dürer. Johannes’s son, Bonifacius Amerbach (b Basle, 11 Oct 1495; d Basle, 24 April 1562), a lawyer, professor at the University of Basle and syndic of the Basle council, was the heir and executor of Erasmus and owned paintings by the Holbein family and important gold and silver pieces, for example the well-known ‘...

[Jobst, Jos]

(b Zurich, bapt June 13, 1539; d Nuremberg, March 17, 1591).

Swiss draughtsman, woodcutter, engraver, etcher and painter. He was the youngest son of the noted scholar and Chorherr in Zurich, Johann Jakob Amman, a friend of Ulrich Zwingli and Gessner, (Johann) Konrad. Although a successful pupil at the renowned Collegium Carolinum where his father was a professor, Jost, like his brother Josua (1531–64), who became a goldsmith, did not take up a scholarly career. As early as 1556–7 his copies of prints by other artists, for example Dürer, Albrecht (b. 94) and Solis family §(1) (b. 249), show an independent and original approach. For his apprenticeship Amman may have been in Basle or Zurich, but he probably spent some time in Paris or Lyon, since his early works show a close similarity to French book illustrations.

In 1561 Amman was in Nuremberg, where he may have worked with Solis, the chief illustrator for the Frankfurt am Main publisher ...

[Bartolommeo]

(b Settignano, nr Florence, June 18, 1511; d Florence, April 13, 1592).

Italian sculptor and architect. He was a major figure in Italian art in the second and third quarters of the 16th century. His extensive travels in north and central Italy gave him an unequalled understanding of developments in architecture and sculpture in the era of Mannerism. His style was based inevitably on the example of Michelangelo but was modified by the suaver work of Jacopo Sansovino. In both sculpture and architecture Ammanati was a highly competent craftsman, and his masterpieces, the tombs of Marco Mantova Benavides and two members of the del Monte family, the Fountain of Juno and the Fountain of Neptune and the courtyard of the Palazzo Pitti, are among the finest works of the period.

Orphaned at the age of 12, Ammanati earnt his living in the ‘Academy’ of Baccio Bandinelli c. 1523–7, after which time he left Florence, which was in political turmoil, for Venice. Jacopo Sansovino had just arrived there after the Sack of Rome (...

[Aertszoon, Jan; Hollander, Jan de]

(b Amsterdam, c. 1500; d Antwerp, c. 1542).

South Netherlandish painter of Dutch birth. He was probably the brother of Pieter Aertsen and was married to the sister-in-law of Pieter Coecke van Aelst. He was made a freeman of the Guild of St Luke in Antwerp in 1528 and a citizen of that city in 1536. Lampsonius and van Mander praised him as a landscape artist. According to Lampsonius, he ‘enjoyed painting landscapes well, instead of painting portraits, human figures and the Deity badly’. Van Mander described his very large panels, which sold well in the markets of Brabant and Flanders, as well as his unusual technique of painting with a light wash so that the underlying ground colour showed through (apparently influential on Bruegel family §(1)).

There are no known documented works by Jan, but he is generally identified (e.g. by Hoogewerff, Genaille, Faggin, Schubert, Wescher and Wallen) as the Brunswick Monogrammist (see Masters, anonymous, and monogrammists §III...