Background
Giovanni Giocondo was born in Verona around 1433.
architect antiquary archaeologist
Giovanni Giocondo was born in Verona around 1433.
A learned Franciscan, Fra Giocondo is said to have received an extensive humanistic education.
Giovanni Giocondo made an important collection of classical inscriptions and was noted by his contemporaries for his extraordinary knowledge of architectural engineering. In 1489 Alfonso, duke of Calabria, summoned Fra Giocondo to Naples, where he conducted archaeological studies, advised on fortification and road building, and may have helped design the gardens of Giuliano’s palazzo, Poggio Reale.
In 1495 Fra Giocondo went to France, where he may have helped design several chateaus and laid the foundations and supervised construction of the bridge of Notre-Dame over the Seine in Paris (1500–04). He helped introduce Italian Renaissance styles into France through his designs.
After returning to Italy, Fra Giocondo worked on fortifications and civic-engineering projects in Venice, Treviso, and Padua before being called to Rome in 1513 by Pope Leo X to aid Giuliano da Sangallo and Raphael on the building of St. Peter’s. He was evidently needed for his expertise on statics, as the foundation piers of the structure were shifting and had begun to crack.
Among his written works, an annotated and illustrated edition (1511) of the Roman architect Vitruvius’ treatise De architectura proved highly influential. In addition to his classical and mathematical knowledge, he was a master of scholastic theology.
He joined the Dominican Order at the age of eighteen and was one of the many of that Order who promulgated the Renaissance. Afterwards, however, he left the Dominicans and entered the Franciscan Order.
