782 wolfgang wolters
Doge Andrea contarini (died 1382) in the cloister of St Stefano. the poly-
chrome figures and other elements were, in the case of altars and tombs,
often supplied with a painted frame, or else the place where they were to
be situated was specially painted, which in the case of both of the Vivarini
altars in S. Zaccaria was a flat niche. Antonio rizzo’s statue of the striding
Doge niccolo tron (died 1476) on his tomb (S. Maria dei Frari) is not the
only one to exhibit traces of a once-rich polychromy. in this way, the life-
like appearance of the doge and the proximity of the figures to painted
elements such as the curtain and the lunette became manifest. For art
historians collaborating with specialized photographers, the subject dis-
cussed above is a field that promises a rich yield of re-evaluations.
in the 15th century, foreigners, especially tuscans and Lombards, com-
peted with local stonemasons (the tagliapietra) for commissions. in 1415,
niccolo di Pietro Lamberti and his son Pietro di niccolo, as well as Giovanni
di Martino da Fiesole, who were all from the lower echelon of tuscan
sculptors, together with Lombard stonemasons and their now nameless
colleagues, took over the partially finished crowning of the façades of
St Mark’s. the critical ability of artistically minded Venetians is attested
to by the high quality of imported pieces such as the late 14th-century
Madonna from the circle of André Beauneveu from the netherlands (in
S. Sofia), as well as sculptures from Germany and Austria (the numerous
Pietà, and four figures with a bronze-like finish in the choir of S. Marco).
in addition, trans-Alpine woodcarvers came to Venice in the 15th century
and created carved altars and countless crucifixes of high quality, which
have not yet been subject to much study. On the Venetian choir stall of
S. Maria dei Frari (1437) by Marco cozzi da Vincenza, an Upper rhenish
woodcarver, perhaps from Strasbourg, executed the relief figures for the
back walls. Donatello’s carved St John the Baptist for the altar of Scuola
dei Fiorentini (1437) in S. Maria dei Frari and Andrea del castagno’s paint-
ing of the apse of S. Zaccaria (1442) were “overlooked” by local artists, or
in any case not taken as a source of inspiration. that said, tuscan statues
from Lorenzo Ghiberti’s circle, which had adorned the altar of the capella
dei Mascoli in S. Marco since about 1430, were greeted with enthusiasm,
as attested to by the imitations.
A seminal work of Venetian sculpture, not just for the first half of the
15th century, is the Justitia Salomonis by Bartolomeo Buon (attributed) at
the Doge’s Palace near the Porta della carta (c.1430). complex emotions
and exact, unconventional characterizations of the protagonists by the
sculptor distinguish the group.