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Italian Renaissance Learning Resources

In collaboration with the National Gallery of Art

Lombardo, Tullio

(b ?c. 1455; d Venice, 17 Nov 1532). Sculptor and architect, son of Pietro Lombardo. Tullio, together with his brother Antonio, is first mentioned in a letter of 1475 written by Matteo Collaccio that has been traditionally construed to mean that by the mid-1470s the brothers were active in their father’s workshop, contributing to secondary aspects of commissions. Maek-Gérard (1974, 1980), however, argued that Tullio and Antonio were born in Padua in the 1460s, about ten years later than is usually assumed. The later birthdates would explain the difficulty of distinguishing their role in the family workshop before the late 1480s. It would also mean that, since they were born in Padua, both were citizens of the Venetian Empire, which, Maek-Gérard contended, explained their continued receipt of important Venetian commissions in the early 16th century after the Venetian sculptors’ guild had curtailed the rights of non-Venetian sculptors.

Sarah Blake McHam