Giovanni Pietro and Giovanni Ambrogio de Donati


Giovanni Pietro and Giovanni Ambrogio de Donati were two brothers and woodcarvers, among the main artists in that medium in the Duchy of Milan in the 15th and 16th centuries. They are recorded between 1484 and 1524.

Life

The brothers and a third painter brother, Lodovico, set up an important workshop in Milan, which was very active in the late 15th and early 16th centuries, the "golden age" of woodcarving in Lombardy. Another brother, Alvise, had a workshop in Vercelli and later Milan. He was active until at least 1503, but there is no definitive information on his collaborating with Giovanni Pietro and Giovanni Ambrogio.
Giovanni Pietro and Giovanni Ambrogio produced a wide variety of works – choir stalls, altarpiece frames, polyptychs, sculptural groups of the Lamentation, crucifixes, statues of the Madonna and other altarpieces. Their only main competitor for such works was the major workshop of del Maino. Their artistic language demonstrated their commitment to Renaissance developments by Lombard painters such as Vincenzo Foppa, Bergognone and Bernardino Zenale and drew important inspiration from the repertoire of Northern European engravings available at the time. In the absence of documentary sources, the works from their workshop are attributed to both brothers, given the great difficulty in distinguishing between their styles. In the past, critics had attributed the two large reliefs from the altar of the Basilica of Santa Maria del Monte above Varese, now on display at the Castello Sforzesco in Milan, to Giovanni Pietro; more recently, these works have been attributed to a different, refined Lombard carver whose identity remains unclear, the Master of Trognano.
In creating large altarpieces they also showed familiarity with the architectural solutions adopted by Bramante and with the decorative elements typical of Giovanni Antonio Amadeo, used to embellish pilasters, pilaster strips, tympanums, and other architectural features.

Works

They produced a Lamentation over the Dead Christ in around 1486–1493 for the Sacro Monte and now in the Pinacoteca civica di Varallo. It harks back to the naturalism and human poetics of Martino Spanzotti, capable of speaking to the hearts of humble people:
Almost contemporary with the Varallo group is the Pietà Altarpiece in Orselina. Its Bramantesque arcosolium houses the scene. The brothers also created the Pietà sculptures. The painter of the backdrop with figures of Mary Magdalene, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus is unknown. The artists seem to have been inspired by a print by Mantegna of the Deposition which was very popular in Lombardy and the Veneto.
In 1497 the brothers were commissioned to produce an altarpiece for the church of San Giovanni Maggiore in Como showing scenes from the life of Saint Peter Martyr, one of their workshop's most important works; in the 19th century it was divided up and sold by an art dealer. Four small panels survive showing scenes from the saint's life, now in four separate museums.
Another magnificent Lamentation by Giovanni Pietro and Ambrogio is in the church of San Bartolomeo in Caspano, a town in Civo. The church also houses two more of the brothers' works, both carved, gilded and painted wooden altarpieces, one of the Resurrection of Lazarus and the other on Saint Bartholomew's altar showing scenes from that saint's life. Other works attributed to the de Donati brothers are primarily reliefs, statuettes and other surviving parts of lost or dismembered altarpieces, such as the wooden altarpiece of 1507 in the Collegiate Church of San Lorenzo in Lugano..
The attribution of works to the brothers faces numerous and complex problems. Only recently has the Master of Trognano acquired his own independent artistic profile. Many minor works previously attributed to the brothers' workshop, such as the small altarpieces showing the Nativity, should perhaps be ascribed to that of Giacomo del Maino. On the other hand, in those years it was quite common for the most important commissions to involve collaboration between a number of workshops, a practice that led to some overlap in stylistic language.

Other works