LASCARIS, Giorgio - b. ~1496 , d. 1531 Padova - WGA

LASCARIS, Giorgio

(b. ~1496 , d. 1531 Padova)

Italian sculptor of Greek birth or descent (known also as Pyrgoteles). He adopted the name of a celebrated Greek gem cutter who served Alexander the Great. He was active in Venice, Padua, Verona and possibly Ferrara and is first mentioned in an epigram of 1496 by the humanist Giambattista Guarino, who praised his Venus ‘flagillifera’ (destroyed). Pomponius Gauricus also praised the same work in De sculptura (1504).

Madonna with Child
Madonna with Child by

Madonna with Child

This relief was executed by an artist in the circle of Lascaris.

Virgin and Child
Virgin and Child by

Virgin and Child

The fa�ade of the church Santa Maria dei Miracoli contains a refined sculptural ornament. The sculpture of the Virgin and Child by Giorgio Lascaris is located on the semi-circular plinth above the doorway.

The torsion in the baby’s body, which projects it into space, anticipates the serpentine forms that were to dominate Venetian sculpture in the early sixteenth century.

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