Matteo Civitali

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Statue of Matteo Civitali by Arnaldo Fazzi, 1893
Palazzo Pretoriale
Piazza San Michele
Lucca, October 2017

“Matteo Civitali (1436–1502) was an Italian sculptor and architect, painter and engineer from Lucca. He was a leading artistic personality of the Early Renaissance in Lucca, where he was born and where most of his work remains. He was trained in Florence, where Antonio Rossellino and Mino da Fiesole influenced his mature style. He is known to have sculpted statues of Adam, Eve, Abraham, Saints Zacchariah and Elizabeth, and others for the chapel of San Giovanni Battista in Genoa Cathedral. He is mentioned with the name of Matteo Civitali by Vasari in his biography of Jacopo della Quercia, and appears to have taken up the art of sculpture at the age of 40 years, after years of practicing as a ‘barber’ (surgeon).” (Matteo Civitali, Wikipedia)