AGOSTINO DI GIOVANNI - b. ~1300 ?, d. ~1350 Siena - WGA

AGOSTINO DI GIOVANNI

(b. ~1300 ?, d. ~1350 Siena)

Italian sculptor and architect. He is first documented in 1310 in Siena, when he married Lagina di Nese, who was possibly a sister of the sculptor Cellino di Nese of Pistoia. Their two sons Giovanni d’Agostino and Domenico both became sculptors and master builders, but Agostino seems to have been the most significant artist in the family.

His masterwork is the Tomb of Bishop Guido Tarlati in the Duomo at Arezzo. It was signed in 1330 by him and Agnolo di Ventura. He was probably more active as architect than sculptor, and no other important sculpture is attributed to him. The tomb of Cino de’ Sinibaldi in the Duomo at Pistoia is probably came from his workshop.

Coat of arms of the Captain and the Roman She-Wolf
Coat of arms of the Captain and the Roman She-Wolf by

Coat of arms of the Captain and the Roman She-Wolf

Monument to Bishop Guido Tarlati
Monument to Bishop Guido Tarlati by

Monument to Bishop Guido Tarlati

The influence of Tino di Camaino is apparent in the work of Agostino di Giovanni and Agnolo di Ventura, who were probably active in Siena while Tino was Capomaestro of the Cathedral. Their principal surviving work, the Tarlati monument in the Duomo at Arezzo, was executed in the same bracket of years as Tino’s Mary of Valois monument in Naples. But whereas the the Mary of Valois monument has its place in the context of court art, the Tarlati monument belongs in the democratic tradition of Tuscan sculpture. Lacking the refinement and elegance of Tino’s tomb, it celebrates in simple, graphic style Tarlati’s administration.

Monument to Bishop Guido Tarlati
Monument to Bishop Guido Tarlati by

Monument to Bishop Guido Tarlati

The monument was executed in collaboration with Agnolo di Ventura. It is many-tiered and soaring slab-like up the wall, to be topped by an airy, pedimented barrel vault. The main relief, containing the two halves of a funeral service or procession, and emotional intensity unmatched in the remainder of the tomb. attains a rhythmic unity. It is the fourteenth-century counterpart of Trajan’s Column, which in many ways it much resembles.

Monument to Bishop Guido Tarlati
Monument to Bishop Guido Tarlati by

Monument to Bishop Guido Tarlati

In 1330 Agostino di Giovanni and the sculptor-architect Agnolo di Ventura signed the monumental tomb of Bishop Guido Tarlati in Arezzo Cathedral, the design of which was based on Tino di Camaino’s tomb for Emperor Henry VII in Pisa Cathedral; his son Giovanni was also involved in its execution. The second row of reliefs in the cycle of scenes of Tarlati’s life, the effigy and the right-hand side of the funeral relief can be regarded as Agostino’s work .

Monument to Bishop Guido Tarlati
Monument to Bishop Guido Tarlati by

Monument to Bishop Guido Tarlati

The monument was executed in collaboration with Agnolo di Ventura. It is many-tiered and soaring slab-like up the wall, to be topped by an airy, pedimented barrel vault. The main relief, containing the two halves of a funeral service or procession, and emotional intensity unmatched in the remainder of the tomb. attains a rhythmic unity. It is the fourteenth-century counterpart of Trajan’s Column, which in many ways it much resembles.

Monument to Bishop Guido Tarlati (detail)
Monument to Bishop Guido Tarlati (detail) by

Monument to Bishop Guido Tarlati (detail)

The monument was executed in collaboration with Agnolo di Ventura. It is many-tiered and soaring slab-like up the wall, to be topped by an airy, pedimented barrel vault. The main relief, containing the two halves of a funeral service or procession, and emotional intensity unmatched in the remainder of the tomb. attains a rhythmic unity. It is the fourteenth-century counterpart of Trajan’s Column, which in many ways it much resembles.

Monument to Bishop Guido Tarlati (detail)
Monument to Bishop Guido Tarlati (detail) by

Monument to Bishop Guido Tarlati (detail)

In 1330 Agostino di Giovanni and the sculptor-architect Agnolo di Ventura signed the monumental tomb of Bishop Guido Tarlati in Arezzo Cathedral, the design of which was based on Tino di Camaino’s tomb for Emperor Henry VII in Pisa Cathedral.

Monument to Bishop Guido Tarlati (detail)
Monument to Bishop Guido Tarlati (detail) by

Monument to Bishop Guido Tarlati (detail)

This marble relief shows the Comune in Signoria, where a prisoner at the right is about to be beheaded while another, kneeling, pleads his case before the seated judge.

St Elizabeth of Hungary
St Elizabeth of Hungary by

St Elizabeth of Hungary

St Francis
St Francis by
Virgin Annunciate (detail)
Virgin Annunciate (detail) by

Virgin Annunciate (detail)

The wooden Annunciata, formerly in San Domenico and now in the National Museum of San Matteo, carries in the octagonal plinth the names of Stefano Accolti and Agostino di Giovanni (perhaps the patrons of the work) and the date 132? (the last digit is uncertain and it is not at all sure whether it is a 1 as it has often been read). The attribution of the work to Agostino is not unanimously accepted.

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