DALMATA, Giovanni
(1440, Trau - 1510, Trau)



Dalmatian sculptor, active in Italy and Hungary. He probably trained as a mason in a local workshop near Trogir (Trau). He moved to Rome in the 1460s, by which time his style was fully developed. Initially he may have worked with Paolo Romano. His earliest works include the side portal of the Palazzo Venezia, Rome, built for Cardinal Pietro Barbo (later Pope Paul II), and the lunette and other sculptures on the façade of the tempietto at Vicovaro. In 1469 he carved the Annunciation and statues of St John the Baptist and St John the Evangelist on the altar of the Madonna della Palla in S Giovanni at Norcia (Umbria).

He arrived at Buda around 1486-87, where the construction of King Matthias's Renaissance place was under way at the time. Dalmata's style can be recognized on a number of fragmented stoneworks of the Royal Place of Buda. King Matthias bestowed upon his favourite sculptor awards and property, and it seems very likely that he also commissioned the artist to fashion his tomb. He was also commissioned to carve the altar in the Pauline monastery of Diósgyőr.



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