Niccolò dell'Arca
Niccolò dell'Arca ( 1435-1440 *, † March 2, 1494 ) was an Italian sculptor of the early Renaissance. He is also known under the names Niccolò da Ragusa, Niccolò da Bari and Niccolò d' Antonio d' Apulia. The suffix " dell'Arca " refers to his contribution to the Arca di San Domenico.
Information concerning the place and year of his birth are uncertain. Presumably, he was born in Apulia or vielleiucht in Bari, and then he lived most likely some time in Dalmatia. Gnudi (1973 ) writes that Niccolò da Sebenico learned there from the Dalmatian sculptor Giorgio.
Some art historians explain the Burgundian elements in his sculptures so that Niccolò who worked during the 1450s on the triumphal arch of Castel Nuovo in Naples, where he had been influenced by Catalan sculptor Guillem Sagrera.
Others deny an education in Naples, claiming instead that Niccolò had traveled in the late 1460ern to France. His further education was made in Siena, influenced by the work of Jacopo della Quercia and Donatello.
The first mention of it is in September 1462 in Bologna as Maestro Nicolò da Puglia, a "Master of the terracotta figures ". This presumably refers to the group of terracotta figures " Lamentation of the Dead Christ " in the church of Santa Maria della Vita in Bologna, also mentioned by Pope Paul II in his bull in 1464.
Further works are the terracotta bust of St. Dominic ( 1474 ) at the Museum of Dominic Basilica in Bologna; a marble statue of St. John the Baptist in the Escorial near Madrid; the terracotta figure of St. Monica (about 1478-1480 ) in the Museum Palace in Modena and the terracotta relief of the Madonna di Piazza ( 1478) on the facade of the Palazzo d' Accursio in Bologna: The folds of the robe to show the influence Jacopo della Quercia and traces of the dynamic naturalism of his contemporary Andrea del Verrocchio.
Sul Cristo morto Compianto
The group sculpture " Lamentation of the Dead Christ " consists of seven life-size figures. Over the past six mourners corpse complain: Joseph of Arimathea, Salome, the Virgin Mary, John the Evangelist, Mary Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. Originally, the terracotta figures were painted in bright colors. The head of the dead Christ on a pillow, which is signed with Opus Nicolai de Apulia. Niccolò began work on sculptures 1463 The remarkable realism and psychologizing representation of the figures can be seen in connection with the suffering of patients at the nearby hospital. Family members and pilgrims the group of sculptures for centuries was an important point, and the revenue through their donations were so significant that they allowed the maintenance of the church and the hospital.
A formally similar group of sculptures by Alfonso Lombardi found in the oratory next to the church.