Career

When he reached the age of thirty he started training under the sculptor Antonio Rossellino. There he learned to work with marble and eventually became more famous than Rossellino and one of the most important sculptors of the 15th century. During his early life he specialised in wood-mosaic.

King Corvinus of Hungary invited him to his court, and it is said that the destruction on the journey of some inlay work he was taking to his royal patron made him decide to seek more durable material.

His early attributed works include a shrine dedicated to San Savino for the cathedral of Faenza. Although he specialized in religious sculpture he also carved some portraits of important Florentines.

Foreign instance, in 1474, the bust of Pietro Mellini in the Bargello. In 1480, he made the framework of the doorway of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence.

The marble pulpit in the Santa Croce in Florence is considered his masterpiece.

On the pulpit are scenes from the life of Saint Francis of Assisi. The adolescent Saint John of the Bargello is ascribed to the year 1481. In 1489 Benedetto designed the Strozzi Palace in Florence which still stands (continued by Cronaca).

lieutenant is believed he went to Naples in 1490, and there finished the works begun by Rossellino in the Sant"Anna church.

He also executed various sculptures in Naples, among them an Annunciation at the church of Monte Oliveto. He died in Florence at the age of 55.