Michele Sanmicheli

After staying in Rome to complete his education studying the art of Bramante, Raphael, Sansovino, and Sangallo, he returned to Verona, where he received numerous prestigious commissions throughout his life.

He learned the basics of his profession, along with his brother Jacopo (who died young) and his cousin Matteo Sanmicheli, from his father Giovanni and his uncle Bartolomeo, both stonemasons in Verona,[2] originally from Cima, a hamlet of Porlezza on Lake Ceresio, or Lugano.

Probably Michele was also able at a young age to acquire intellectual stimulation from his family's acquaintance with Bernardino and Matteo Mazzola, stonemasons and humanists, with whom they collaborated on the construction of the Loggia del Consiglio.

[11] Between 1525 and 1526[note 4] he worked to prepare, on the commission of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, the first design of the Montefiascone Cathedral, an octagonal building surmounted by a dome in the style of Bramante, reminiscent of the one in the church of Santa Maria di Loreto in Rome.

[10] In early 1526 he carried out, at the behest of Clement VII, a survey of the fortifications of the northern borders of the Papal States, which were under threat from Charles III of Bourbon, which was followed by a detailed report signed with Antonio da Sangallo the Younger.

[note 5] From the existing sources it is not immediately clear why the pope turned to Sanmicheli rather than another person for such a delicate assignment;[13] perhaps it was given to him on the recommendation of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese or, more likely, at the behest of Antonio da Sangallo himself.

[14] This assignment represented a further turning point in his career in that he thus had the opportunity to visit the most advanced military architecture and to associate with the most highly regarded architects and engineers of the time, who greatly influenced him in his way of designing.

After finishing his service for Clement VII Sanmicheli decided to return, in 1527, to Verona:[7] Vasari wrote that the "desire came to Michele after so many years to see again his homeland and his relatives and friends, but much more the fortresses of the Venetians.

[note 6][15] On a subsequent stay in Legnago for the renovation of the fortress, he met the captain general of the Venetian Republic, Francesco Maria della Rovere, whose acquaintance, as well as the fame he had now acquired, meant that he was offered the position of military engineer for the Serenissima.

As a result of his work in Verona, Sanmicheli's skills as a military architect became known and appreciated outside the borders of the Republic, and thus it was that Francesco II Sforza, in 1531, obtained permission to have him as a consultant on the strongholds of Vigevano, Pavia, Alessandria, Lodi, and Como for the Lombard duchy.

In 1530 Ludovico di Canossa, a bishop of Bayeux who had returned to Verona during the 1520s, commissioned him to design a town house near Castelvecchio, between Porta Borsari and the Gavi Arch,[note 9] and a country villa in Grezzano of Mozzecane.

[17] In 1533 he was very active in Verona, where he built the portals of the palaces of the Capitanio and Podestà at the behest of the Venetian rectors Dolfin and Giustinian,[18] and renovated his family home; he also went to Pesaro and Senigallia for consultations related to ports.

[20] Between 1537 and 1540 Sanmicheli experienced a period of intense work, during which he traveled almost continuously to inspect eastern fortifications together with his nephew, with whom personal and professional ties increased; he visited Dalmatia, Zadar, Šibenik, Corfu, Crete, and other places in the Stato da Màr.

[21] On his return from the long journey he continued to work on the fortifications of the mainland (particularly Orzinuovi and Chioggia), but he also visited Vicenza for advice on the building of the Palazzo della Ragione, an occasion during which he most likely met the architect Andrea Palladio.

In the following years, the Veronese architect still traveled extensively in the vast Domini di Terraferma to carry out surveys and inspections about the various defensive structures, although he had to renounce a new mission to the eastern territories due to precarious physical conditions.

Having moved permanently to Verona, he devoted himself to the designs of numerous sumptuous patrician residences in the city, as well as the construction of the dome of the church of San Giorgio in Braida and the (unfinished) facade of Santa Maria in Organo.

Hard hit by the loss of his beloved nephew Giangirolamo, in whom he saw his worthy successor, he ended his career with the design of the centrally planned church of Madonna di Campagna, finished by Bernardino Brugnoli in Verona.

[26] Sanmicheli's style, which certainly appears recognizable and unmistakable,[27] manifests itself as the result of High Renaissance influences (particularly Bramante and Raphael) learned during his stay in central Italy and the predilections of architects already working in Verona and Venice.

In his early period he turned out to be more inclined to realize projects endowed with greater complexity and finer workmanship (such as Bevilacqua Palace and Pellegrini Chapel), while at the end of his life he favored a more sober yet more monumental style (as in the church of Madonna di Campagna, the architect's last work).

[26] At the height of his career Sanmicheli belonged to the elite of the Venetian artistic scene, on a par with Titian and Sansovino; this condition allowed him to be in contact with a large part of the local nobility, and in addition his activity as an architect put him in a position to advise the client about the decorations of the work under construction.

His position as "Architect to the Most Illustrious Venetian Ducal Empire" led him to superintend numerous projects in the vast territories of the Serenissima, both in the Domini di Terraferma, i.e., northeastern Italy, and in the distant possessions of Corfu, Crete, and Croatia.