How does this artwork elucidate its Description and style?
Alfred Meyer, in 1900, was the first to appraise the altar critically. Appreciating its architectural composition, he deemed it a surprise that there hadn't been better consideration of one of the finest works of the Brescian renaissance. He recognised in the two free columns of the altar, a sculptural adaptation of the Zuffa di dei marini in Mantegna, as well as the relationship between the figures here with those of the decorative medallions of the Martinengo mausoleum. In the busts of the monks on the pendentives, he also found a precise reference to the cycle of Caesars in the Palazzo della Loggia of Brescia, conjecturing that the altar's author could be the same Gaspar Mediolanensis who had been praised by Pomponio Gaurico in 1504 as the creator of the Caesars, and identified by Meyer as Gasparo Cairano.Antonio Morassi, in 1939, corroborated the connections between this altar and the Martinengo mausoleum, with the consequent attribution of the work to Maffeo Olivieri. This derailed much of the critical study of Brescian architecture for several decades, until the attribution was disproved in 1977 by Boselli. The authorship of Gasparo Cairano of the stone apparatus was reiterated by Vito Zani in the early 21st century as part of a series of studies on the sculptor, with particular reference to the two Monks at the top and the typologies of the figures in the friezes with the Zuffa. Evident affinities from the point of view of the architectural and compositional conception of the altar can also be found in the church of San Pietro in Oliveto, in whose construction Cairano certainly participated with the cycle of Apostles, where the side chapels of the nave are conceived in the same way. The elaborate frieze, of excellent workmanship, is reminiscent of the sculptor's friezes of the same type at the Loggia, also reproduced in the Ark of Sant'Apollonio and in the Martinengo mausoleum. The dating of the altar, therefore, should be close to all these works, including the portal of the cathedral of Salò as proposed in 1991 by Agosti, and therefore placed between 1506 and 1510.
In 2010, Giuseppe Sava published an article in the Arte Veneta journal, which brought to light Antonio Medaglia, a previously unrecognised architect of the church of San Pietro in Oliveto. Sava proposed a catalogue of works including some figures in the frieze, as well as implicating Medaglia in the project of the altar of San Girolamo, albeit as a lesser contributor in his collaboration with Gasparo Cairano.The same year Vito Zani proposed another reconstruction of the origins of the altar, hypothesising that Mattia Ugoni, the bishop of Famagusta ordained by Pope Julius II in 1504, commissioned it. But Ugoni's patronage is known only after 1519 and linked to the church of San Giuseppe, Brescia, which is documented with regard to Simone Rovati, who had intervened in the altar's construction in 1521. This suggests that Ugoni's patronage of the altar lasted a very short time, leaving little documentary evidence. Zani also links Ugoni with Cairano, as when the former was vicar general in Verona in the early 16th century, he commissioned a portal to the new bishop's palace in that city, which, based on architectural designs, has been attributed to Cairano by Monica Ibsen.
cathedral of Salò Simone Rovati Mattia Ugoni Pomponio Gaurico Palazzo della Loggia Pope Julius II church of San Giuseppe, Brescia Antonio Morassi Gasparo Cairano Brescia Ark of Sant'Apollonio medal San Giuseppe, Brescia Antonio Medaglia Maffeo Olivieri