Jacopo Sansovino (1486-1570)

Jacopo d’Antonio Sansovino was an Italian sculptor and architect, known best for his works around the Piazza San Marco in Venice. Andrea Palladio, in the Preface to his Quattro Libri was of the opinion that Sansovino’s Biblioteca Marciana was the best building erected since Antiquity. Giorgio Vasari uniquely printed his Vita of Sansovino separately. His masterpiece is the Library of Saint Mark’s, the Biblioteca Marciana, one of Venice’s most richly decorated Renaissance structures, which stands in front of the Doge’s palace, across the piazzeta. Construction spanned fifty years and cost over 30,000 ducats. In it he successfully made the architectural language of classicism, traditionally associated with severity and restraint, palatable to the Venetians with their love of surface decoration. This paved the way for the graceful architecture of Andrea Palladio. He died in Venice and his sepulchre is in the Baptistery of St. Mark’s Basilica. His most important follower in the medium of sculpture was Alessandro Vittoria.
(From Wikipedia)