TULLIO SOLARI,
known as Tullio Lombardo, has been described as the first sculptor in
Venice who could achieve convincing classical proportions. He worked in
such close collaboration with his father Pietro (c. 1438-1515), brother
Antonio (c. 1458-c. 1516) and son Sante that their individual contributions
are often not identifiable. Together they were referred to simply as i
Lombardi [the Lombards].
The father Pietro
was born in the Lombard town of Cremona and trained as a sculptor in
Rome. He and his sons transferred to the Veneto, c. 1460, first to Padua
and then to Venice. Tullio refined his father's somewhat stiff style
into a more natural, highly polished one. He is recorded to have had
a study collection of Classical statuary and also to have utilized motifs
from early reliefs set in the walls of the Basilica di S. Marco.
In Venice the
Church of SS. Giovanni e Paolo [Zanipolo] contains two sculptural works
of Tullio: the Monument to Doge Pietro Mocenigo, executed with his father
and brother, and the Monument to Doge Andrea Vendramin, an evocation
of a Roman triumphal arch encrusted with decorative figures, which appears
to be Tullio's work alone. To Tullio are also attributed the Funeral
Monument of Cav. Marco Cornaro (B-16) in the Church of SS. Apostoli
and the frieze in the Cornaro Chapel of the
Church S. Maria Gloriosa dei Frari.
In Venice the
family moved from sculpture alone into architecture, producing one of
Venice's unique jewels, the Church of S. Maria dei Miracoli (now newly-renovated),
and contributed to numerous other notable structures, including the
Church of S. Giobbe and the Scuola di S. Giovanni Evangelista.
