Giorgio da Sebenico

Giorgio da Sebenico (George of Sebenico) or Giorgio Orsini or Juraj Dalmatinac (George the Dalmatian; c. 1410 – 10 October 1473) was a Venetian sculptor and architect from Dalmatia, who worked mainly in Sebenico (now Šibenik, Croatia), and in the city of Ancona, then a maritime republic. Giorgio da Sebenico was born from the Roman noble Orsini family in the Dalmatian city of Zara (now Zadar, Croatia), which was part of the Republic of Venice (see Venetian Dalmatia). He emigrated to Venice during his youth, where he was probably trained as a sculptor in the workshop of Giovanni and Bartolomeo Bon, or at least worked with them as an independent associate. He would not have been awarded the great responsibility of the 1441 Šibenik contract without having experience of major works, and various attributions of surviving sculptures in Venice to him, as part of the Bon workshop, have been made, including the decorations on the Porta della Carta of the Doge's Palace. Anne Markham Schultz dismisses all previous suggestions as stylistically incompatible, but instead proposes the relief of Saint Mark enthroned among members of the Confraternity of Saint Mark in the lunette above the main entrance to the Scuola di San Marco, which she dates to 1437-1438 and finds close in style to Giorgio's later works at Šibenik and elsewhere. As his style here has few similarities to other works by the Bons, she considers it most likely that he worked with them when already a master, who had trained elsewhere. She believes his personal style offers few clues as to where this might have been. In 1441, when still resident in Venice, Giorgio was summoned to Šibenik in order to take charge of the construction of the Šibenik Cathedral of St James. He moved by the end of August, and in 1443 was awarded the title of master under the condition set in the contract with the procurators of the Cathedral to take up residence there for at least six years. On 1 September 1446 he agreed to extend his contract as chief architect for another ten years.