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Jan 1, 2008
(b
Florence
, March
1426; d
Florence bur
, 24
Aug
1464).
Italian
goldsmith, niellist and draughtsman. Many lost works are documented, and Maso left 14 volumes of drawings, various sulphur casts and some sketches, but his only documented work is the design (executed before February
1464) of a set of five figures, whose heads were painted by Alesso
Baldovinetti (1425 -- 99), for two intarsia panels for the north sacristy in Florence Cathedral. It has been convincingly suggested that he was also responsible for designing Giuliano
da Maiano’s intarsia of the Annunciation, formerly on a door of the abbey at Fiesole (Berlin, Tiergarten, Kstgewmus.). The close stylistic connection between these intarsia works and the niello of the Coronation of the Virgin on a pax (1452; Florence, Bargello) formerly in the Baptistery confirms that this niello must have been the principal decoration of the pax for which Maso was paid in 1452. The Coronation is a masterpiece of refinement, in which Maso was clearly influenced by the ornate style of Fra Filippo
Lippi (1406 -- 69). Because of this, Maso has been credited with many nielli in Lippi’s style, known through sulphur casts or paper impressions and noteworthy for their high artistic quality and wide range of subject-matter (e.g.
Paris
,
Louvre
;
London
, BM). A niello of the Crucifixion (Florence, Bargello) is stylistically close to the earliest group of these nielli and can be dated before the Coronation because of its debt to Lorenzo
Ghiberti (1378 -- 1455). The numerous copies of a later niello of the Crucifixion (
Washington
, DC, N.G.A.), which shows Pollaiuolo's influence, prove that Maso's works were very popular. Finiguerra was already famous in the 15th century, when he was praised as a goldsmith, niellist and master draughtsman. Vasari recorded that Maso ‘drew much and very well’, but Cellini stated that he always used Antonio
Pollaiuolo’s designs. Cellini’s testimony has been used to deny Maso any real artistic ability, but documentary evidence has reinforced Vasari’s judgement. Vasari attributed the invention of engraving to Finiguerra. He claimed that this technique originated in Maso's habit of checking his work as it progressed by taking sulphur casts from the nielli and then paper impressions from the casts. This is supported by the fact that besides the niello of the Coronation of the Virgin, there are also two sulphur casts (London, BM; Paris, Louvre) and a paper impression (Paris, Bib. N.). This, however, does not imply that Maso engraved metal plates with the exclusive aim of producing prints.
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