Alexander Colin
sculptor and architect; b. 1532; d. 1612.
There is a contract dated March 7, 1558, between the elector Otto Heinrich and the sculptor Alexander Colin of Mecheln, for carving the coat of arms over the door of the Otto-Heinrichsbau in the castle of Heidelberg, Germany, and for fourteen statues and fourteen windows. After finishing this work Colin was called to Innsbruck (Austrian Tyrol) by the Emperor Ferdinand I, to complete (1562-1566) the monument to Maximilian I in the Hofkirche which had been begun by Peter Abel. Attributed to Colin are the fountain in the Thiergarten at Innsbruck (1564), the monument of the Emperor Ferdinand I in the cathetral of Prague (1564-1589), and other monuments at Innsbruck and elsewhere.
Giovanni da Ponte
architect; b. 1512; d. 1597.
Giovanni was a pupil of Scarpagnino. In 1558 he was appointed proto of the reconstruction of the buildings on the island of the Rialto, Venice. In 1589 he began the construction of the bridge of the Rialto. Giovanni restored the Doge's palace after the fire of 1577, and about 1589 built the prison opposite that building.
Germain Pilon (Pillon)
sculptor and architect; b. 1535 (in the Faubourg Saint-Jaques, Paris); d. February 3, 1590.
In 1558 Pilon received payment for eight figures in relief for the vault of the monument of Francis I, at Saint-Denis (see de l'Orme, Philibert), one of his earliest and best works. He superseded Domenique Florentin and Geronimo della Robbia as sculptor of the monument to Henry II, at Saint-Denis, and made all the statues of this monument. The bas reliefs of the base are by Laurent Regnauldin and Fremyn Roussel. Pilon made the monument to Guillaume du Bellay de Langey at the cathedral of Le Mans (finished in 1557), and the monument to Birague in the Louvre. One of his most celebrated works is the group of Three Graces which supports a vase intended to contain the heart of Francis I. This work, made for Catherine de' Medici in 1561, is now in the Louvre.
| |
| |
|