Famiglia e identità sociale nella biografia di Giuliano e Antonio da Sangallo

This paper explores the private dimension of the biographies of Giuliano and Antonio da Sangallo on the basis of a series of unpublished documents, which reveal some aspects of the life of these two brothers and their ancestors, in particular their father Francesco di Bartolo. Francesco was the first family member to work as a legnaiolo (woodworker), and his profession certainly exerted a great influence on Giuliano and Antonio. Equally important in their formation must have been the place where the two brothers passed the first part of their lives and where they recognised their origin: the village of San Gallo, located outside one of the gates of Florence. These bonds, typical of medieval craft environments, seem to have been accompanied by the desire, especially on Giuliano’s part, to interpret his own professional condition differently from the traditional one. The intellectual and artistic maturation of the brothers proceeded in parallel with their ascent up the social ladder, then favoured by precise behaviours and strategies. These are vividly testified by Piero di Cosimo’s double portrait of Francesco and Giuliano and the testaments dictated by the two brothers in 1512 and again in 1525 by Antonio alone, now published for the first time. All of this material helps to better understand the condition and social aspirations not only of the Sangallo, but of artists in general in the transition between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.