Sansovino, Jacopo d'Antonio Tatti, called (1486–1570). Florentine architect and sculptor, he spent most of his working life in Venice, where he created some of the greatest buildings of the High Renaissance, although Mannerism was not entirely absent from his designs. His finest works were the Biblioteca Marciana (begun 1537 and completed by Scamozzi in 1588—a powerful composition featuring superimposed Ionic and Doric Orders between the columns of which are arcuated arrangements of great sophistication); the Zecca (Mint—of 1535–47); and the Loggetta (1537–42—a composition of three overlayered triumphal arches), all near the Doge's Palace, and contributing to the brilliant urban scenery of Venice. The Biblioteca (Library of St Mark) was the first Venetian building in which the Orders were used in a thoroughly scholarly way, and was recognized by Palladio as one of the most authoritative buildings erected since Antiquity, and indeed drew on the exemplar of the Theatre of Marcellus in Rome for its arrangement of Orders.

Sansovino also designed the Church of San Francesco della Vigna (1534—completed by Palladio), and built the influential Palazzo Corner della Ca' Grande (begun 1537), with a rusticated ground-floor slightly reminiscent of Sanmicheli's Palazzo Canossa, Verona, but with curiously placed Mannerist consoles over the openings on either side of the triple-arched centre. Above, the façade has superimposed Orders with arched windows set back behind the plane of the Orders. He also designed the Villa Garzoni, Pontecasale, near Padua (designed c.1540), with a five-bay arcaded loggia in the centre over the entrance, a composition of grave serenity worthy of the Ancients.

Bibliography

Boucher (1991);
D. Howard (1975, 1980);
Lotz (1977);
P. Murray (1969, 1986);
Placzek (ed.) (1982);
G. Romanelli (1993);
Jane Turner (1996);
Tafuri (1972)