Giovanni Maria Mosca


Giovanni Maria Mosca or Giovanni Padovano was an Italian Renaissance sculptor and medallist, active between 1515 and 1573, initially in the Veneto and after 1529 in Poland, where his first name was rendered Jan.

Life

Born in Padua, the first surviving mention of Mosca dates to 1507, when he began six years as apprentice to the Paduan sculptor Giovanni Minello and then to the goldsmith Bartolomeo Mantello. His first surviving work, The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist', dates to this period. His artistic training continued in the studio of Tullio Lombardo and Antonio Lombardo, both sons of the equally famous architect and sculptor Pietro Lombardo.
He was active in Veneto, where he produced important works in both Padua and Venice and collaborated with Guido Lizzaro, Bartolomeo di Francesco Bergamasco and Pietro Paolo Stella. He arrived in Kraków around 1529 after being summoned to Sigismund I's court. He had probably attracted by the commission for the royal tomb but probably arriving too late to contribute to that work, which was instead produced by the Florentine Bartolomeo Berrecci. His first commission in Poland was four medals showing the royal family. He gathered around himself the most important sculptural workshop in Poland, mainly specialising in tomb monuments.

Works

The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist - 1516 - sacrestia dei Prebendati, Padua CathedralSaint John the Baptist - sacristy, Santo Stefano, VeniceSaint Roch, Saint John the Baptist, Saint Francis - 1520-22 - high altar, San Rocco, VeniceMiracle of the Glass - 1520-29 - cappella del Santo, basilica di Sant'Antonio, PaduaThe Virgin of Charity - 1522 - Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, BostonJudgement of Solomon - Louvre, ParisAltarpiece of the Sacrament - Santa Maria Mater Domini, VeniceCenotaph of Alvise Pasqualigo - 1523-29 - basilica di Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, VeniceEcce Homo Altarpiece - 1524-25 - Casa Cardinal Piazza, Venice Gateway - Sant'Agnese, PaduaPorcia - 1523-29 - Galleria Franchetti alla Ca' d'Oro, VenicePhiloctetes - 1520-29 - Palazzo Ducale, MantuaEurydice - 1520-29 - Metropolitan Museum of Art, New YorkEurydice - 1520-29 - Museo di Capodimonte, NaplesCleopatra - Musée des beaux-arts, RennesCleopatra - Museum Kunstpalast, DüsseldorfMucius Scaevola - 1520-29 - Skulpturensammlung, DresdenMucius Scaevola - 1520-29 - National Gallery of Scotland, EdinburghMucius Scaevola - 1520-29 - Museo del Bargello, FlorenceMars/Achilles - 1520-29 - Bowes Museum, Barnard CastleTomb of Archbishop Piotr Gamrat - 1545-47 - Wawel Cathedral, Kraków