Childhood

Much of the information about Michele Sanmicheli's life is known through his first biographer, Giorgio Vasari, who wrote about the Veronese architect in his famous work Le vite de' più eccellenti pittori, scultori e architettori, though providing scant information for the entire period of his training between Verona and Rome.^[1]

Sanmicheli was born in Verona, at that time part of the Republic of Venice. 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.^[3][4] The family workshop was a simple artisan's workshop, albeit in contact with several high-quality ateliers. 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.^[5]

Toward the end of 1505 the young Sanmicheli was already orphaned of both parents while one brother, Jacopo, was close to death, and another brother, Alessandro, was locked in a convent in Bologna. This situation gave him little reason to stay in his hometown and so, having sold some family properties in Azzano, he decided to move to Rome.^[6]

First commissions in Rome and Orvieto

Sanmicheli went to Rome at a young age (in his early twenties),^{[note 2]} to work as an assistant to Antonio da Sangallo. In the Urbe, where he was probably able to move because of the support of two of his brothers, who held prominent positions in the congregation of the Canons Regular of St. Anthony, he had the opportunity to study classical sculpture and architecture.^[2] In Rome he also frequented the architect and inlayer Fra Giovanni da Verona, who was active at the papal court, and the circle of the Bramanteschi.^[7] He soon won praise, so much so that Vasari wrote that "in a short time he became, not only in Rome, but throughout all the places surrounding it, renowned and famous."^[1]

In 1509 he then went to Orvieto,^{[note 3]} where he stayed for the next two decades. In 1512, a great opportunity presented itself to him: he was offered the role of master builder at the construction site of the Orvieto Cathedral,^[8] a position that allowed him not only to supervise the work of one of the major works of central Italy, but also to be the successor to a dense array of great architects who had previously taken part in the project. This assignment brought him great prestige, and the experience he gained from it, especially in the management of the workforce, would prove most useful when, in the future, he was put in charge of the re-fortification of the Venetian state.^[9]

Also in 1512, under the title of "marmoraio," he went to Rieti as a guarantor in a dispute over a payment to a Florentine sculptor, while in 1516 he traveled to Spello for an estimate of the ciborium kept in the collegiate church of Santa Maria Maggiore.^[10]

Due to the fame he gained from being master builder at the cathedral, Sanmicheli was able to obtain some important private commissions, as for example, on April 19, 1516, when he was commissioned by the Sienese merchant Girolamo Petrucci in Orvieto for the family chapel in the church of San Domenico, on which he worked until 1524 and which became one of his most important works.^[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.^[12] Only the colonnade with entablature remains of this building, due to the fire of 1670 and the subsequent radical renovation by Carlo Fontana. During his time in Montefiascone he also had a love affair of which he did not speak much but which led to the birth of a daughter.^[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.

Return to Verona and assignment at the Serenissima

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."^[1] After spending a few days in his hometown, he went to Treviso and Padua to study their military architecture. Of his stay in the city of Padua, there is a legend that he was placed under arrest on suspicion of espionage activities, given his great interest in defensive structures.^{[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. Thus, in the same way as Jacopo Sansovino, he became a salaried officer of the Republic: his acclaim among the Venetians and the tragedy represented by the sack of Rome convinced Sanmicheli never to return to Lazio.

His first assignment in this role was in Verona, between 1527 and 1528, where he was called by Giovanni Emo, podestà of the city, to take charge of the restoration of the Ponte Nuovo bridge over the Adige River. In addition, around the end of 1527, the noblewoman Margherita Pellegrini offered him to design a chapel in memory of her son Nicolò at the church of San Bernardino in Verona: to this work the architect applied himself with considerable enthusiasm, producing a work that was much appreciated by the client.^[16] The Pellegrini Chapel was then the subject of subsequent retouches by Bartolomeo Giuliari in 1793. On October 28, 1530, when the private work was completed, he was officially appointed superintendent of the military factories of Verona (a position he would hold until his death).^[16] With this role he designed the monumental gates of the city: Porta Nuova^{[note 7]} (1532), Porta San Zeno (1541) and Porta Palio (1547);^[7] he also began to transform the fortifications of Verona using the bastion system.^{[note 8]} At the same time (between 1531 and 1532) he was responsible for studying and designing the reorganization of the Visconti Citadel of Verona, in collaboration with his nephew Giangirolamo Sanmicheli, who was his faithful collaborator and successor.

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 1539 Charles V also made a request to the Serenissima, which was, however, rejected, for his services to fortify Antwerp.^[17]

His fame as an architect is linked not only to works of a military character but also to civil architecture in the Renaissance style. 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. Palazzo Canossa was completed shortly after the bishop's death in 1532; among other things, the architect, precisely through Ludovico, got to know the brothers Giovan Francesco, Antonio and Gregorio Bevilacqua, who entrusted him in the late 1520s with the construction of Palazzo Bevilacqua, which faced the Canossa Palace along what is now Corso Cavour, and the restoration of Bevilacqua Castle in 1532.^[18]

In 1531 he began work (which would continue until 1537) on the walls of Orzinuovi, while in the following year he completed studies for the fortifications of Treviso and Brescia, and for the renovation of Piazza Contarena in Udine. The following year he was in Padua for extensive studies leading to the construction of the Cornaro bastion.^[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.

Fortification of Venice and the eastern borders

In October 1534 Sanmicheli left for Zadar at the request of the Senate of the Republic, though not before dictating his will to the Venetian notary Giovanni Cavani. Upon his return to Venice, the Council of Ten commissioned him to draw up a secret report on the defenses of the lagoon, a document that demonstrates the excellent methodology used by Sanmicheli, which is still relevant today; with this document, the architect was able to highlight the complex problems of the territory and formalize a redesign with a view to not only military but also civilian efficiency.^[19] This assignment was immediately followed, on January 27, by the commission to design the fort of Sant'Andrea, on the island of the same name in front of the Venice Lido, and other lagoon fortifications. This work earned him an appointment on April 14 as chief engineer of the Republic, "both for the excavation and maintenance of our lagoons, as well as for the fortification of our sites [...] from land and sea."

His intense activity as a military architect did not prevent him, however, from also dealing with civil works: in these years he designed for the Cornaro family a villa in Piombino Dese (not to be confused with Villa Cornaro, built by Palladio), later demolished in 1795.^[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.

The last years

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.^[22] He was also very much involved in inspections of hydraulic networks, and he continued to supervise and open numerous construction sites in Verona and Venice.

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. In 1540 he finished work on the Palazzo Pompei, commissioned by the wealthy Lavezzola family,^[23] one of the Veronese master's most successful works.^{[note 10]}

In 1541 he designed the Corner Mocenigo Palace in Venice, overlooking Campo San Polo in the sestiere of the same name,^[22] the same innovative elements of which can be found in his later works: Palazzo Roncale in Rovigo,^[24] Palazzo degli Honorij in Verona (1553-54) and Palazzo Grimani di San Luca in Venice (from about 1556), which is also his last masterpiece.

In 1555 he produced drawings for the rebuilding of the Bucentaur depot at the Venetian Arsenal, while the following year he worked on a triumphal arch for the entrance of Bona Sforza in Padua.

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. On April 29, 1559, he dictated a will naming his cousin Paolo as his universal heir,^{[note 11]} and towards the end of August of the same year he passed away in his hometown due to a violent fever.^{[note 12]} His remains are kept in the church of San Tomaso Cantuariense.^[25]

Military works

Vasari, who knew him in Venice, attributes to Sanmicheli fundamental innovations in the field of fortifications at a time of general renewal in the field of military works for which the term "trace italienne" is used. However, at least for the first of these innovations, the invention of the angled bastion, it should be remembered that modern historiography attributes it to Giuliano da Sangallo and Antonio da Sangallo. Sanmicheli completed his training in contact with the work of the two brothers and their heir Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, with whom he collaborated at length.

Palaces and civil architecture

In designing palaces, Sanmicheli was one of the most innovative architects of the 16th century: a feature of his works is the mixing of classical elements, frequent in the works of Bramante and Raphael, with other elements belonging to the local architectural tradition. While it was in Orvieto that Sanmicheli began his career as a palace builder (due to his friendship with Girolamo Petrucci), it was in Verona, however, that he had the opportunity to demonstrate his true abilities.

Religious works

Although Sanmicheli is best known as a military architect and for some of his palaces, there is no shortage of buildings for religious purposes in his output. His first assignment in complete autonomy was to supervise work on the Orvieto Cathedral.

All of the churches and chapels built by Sanmicheli have the feature of presenting a central plan or at least forming part of structures with centralized space.^[65] This predilection of the architect probably refers back to his study of 15th-century religious buildings, which presented the same characteristics.