Costantini de' Servi
Costantini or Costantino de' Servi was an Italian painter, sculptor, garden designer and architect in the Renaissance.
Early life
Born in 1554, de' Servi was the son of a diplomat.Career
Primarily a sculptor and Medicean architect, de' Servi also painted. He primarily did religious-themed works for some of the European courts. His only known surviving painting, Virgin and Child was shown at the Cleveland Museum of Art. A tondo work of oil on panel, the painting was begun in 1590 and completed in 1610. It was gifted to Cleveland Museum in Ohio by Mr. and Mrs. Preston H. Saunders in 1971.He travelled constantly, reaching as far west as the court of James I in London, and as far east as Persia. Like many of his contemporaries, de' Servi also designed masques for the Stuart court, though they were unsuccessful. His design for a stage cloud for The Somerset Masque by Thomas Campion, performed on 26 December 1613, was a disappointment as the rope and pulleys were visible and it was noisy in operation.
At one point he completed a detailed design for an Italianate garden at Richmond Palace, London, for the teenage Henry, Prince of Wales and heir to James 1. Henry's death in 1612 from typhoid ended the project. At that politically sensitive time, de' Servi had stepped in as matchmaker, providing a likeness of Henry's intended, Caterina, whom the Medicis wanted the Prince to marry, but would not supply her portrait.