DOMENICO DI PARIS - b. ~1420 Padova, d. ~1501 Ferrara

Italian sculptor, bronze-caster and wood-carver. A pupil and son-in-law of Niccolò Baroncelli, he followed his master from Padua to Ferrara. That he was called ‘Domenico del Cavallo’ in later documents attests to his considerable role in the making of the bronze equestrian monument to Niccolò III d’Este, Marchese of Ferrara (destroyed 1796), which was begun by Baroncelli in 1443 and dedicated on 2 June 1451.

After Baroncelli’s death (1453), Domenico was head of the workshop and was paid in 1454, 1456 and 1457 for the monument to Borso d’Este, Duke of Ferrara (destroyed 1796), begun by Baroncelli in 1451. In 1466 he completed the life-size bronze statues of St George and St Maurelius begun by Baroncelli for the high altar of Ferrara Cathedral; he also executed two marble lions for the high altar (all in situ).

On 3 April 1467 he undertook to execute reliefs to cover the ceilings of upper rooms in the Palazzo Schifanoia, Ferrara. Although the contract makes no mention of the walls, the elaborate polychromed stucco decorations on the walls of the antechamber are universally given to him and Bongiovanni di Geminiano (active 1451-1492).

Domenico’s other documented works have been destroyed. They included two large bronze candlesticks (1461), a lead Hercules (1472), wood-carvings made with other artists for a sumptuous carriage in 1473, some work in 1490 in connection with a marriage chest painted for Isabella d’Este, models for vases executed in 1492 and 60 wooden roses carved in 1501 for the oratory of the Confraternità delle Morte in Ferrara. On 21 January 1492 and 24 December 1493 he was paid for a wooden model for the summit of the cathedral campanile, and in 1493 he cast various components for the third storey.