ANGOLO DEL MORO, Giulio dell'

Italian sculptor and painter, part of a family of artists, son of Battista Angolo del Moro (c. 1515-c. 1573). Battista married the daughter of Francesco Torbido (called il Moro) and added her family nickname to his surname. Battista practised as a decorative frescoGLOSSARYWall painting technique in which pigments are applied to wet (fresh) plaster (intonaco). The pigments bind with the drying plaster to form a very durable image. Only a small area can be painted in a day, and these areas, drying to a slightly different tint, can in time be seen. Small amounts of retouching and detail work could be carried out on the dry plaster, a technique known as a secco fresco. painter in the Veneto in the second half of the 16th century and was the first of an important group of etchers active in and around Verona and Venice at that time. His Mannerist style was perpetuated by his sons Marco Angolo del Moro and Giulio Angolo del Moro. Marco also followed in his father's footsteps as an etcher, whereas Giulio was active also as a sculptor.

Giulio is recorded as a member of the Venetian painters' guildGLOSSARYAn association of the masters of a particular craft, trade or profession (painters, goldsmiths, surgeons, and so on) set up to protect its members' rights and interests. Such guilds existed in virtually every European city in the 16th century. The guild also monitored standards of work, acted as a court for those who brought their trade into disrepute, and provided assistance to members in need. first in 1584 and for the last time in 1615. A connection with Alessandro Vittoria's workshop in the 1570s seems likely. The work necessitated by the fires in the Doge's Palace in that decade served as Giulio's entry to State patronage. Between 1584 and 1589 he carved the figures of Diligence, Secrecy and Fidelity in the SalaGLOSSARYHall, large room. delle Quattro Porte and in 1585-90 painted the Capture of Caffà in the Sala del Scrutinio. His most prominent picture is Doge Ziani Receiving Gifts from Pope Alexander III (c. 1610) in the Sala del Maggior Consiglio, but perhaps his best painting is the awkward but animated Ecce homo in San Giacomo dell'Orio, Venice.

He has been credited with the sculpture on the Priuli Tomb in San Salvador, but in fact these figures seem to be by a certain Alvise Moro. The tomb of Andrea Dolfin and his Wife (completed c. 1605) in the same church contains his most significant sculpture, especially the figures of St Andrew and the Risen Christ. His last projects took place c. 1605-15 at San Giorgio Maggiore: the façadeGLOSSARYthe front or principal face of a building, especially one elaborately constructed; a blind façade is a façade that is purely decorative and does not relate to the structure of the building. sculptures of St George and St Stephen and the busts of the doges Sebastiano Ziani and Tribuno Memmo, as well as the tomb of the doge Marcantonio Memmo on the inside façade.

Although some of his work, for example the bust of Giovanni da Lezze (Gesuiti, Venice), shows Giulio at his most inspired, his surviving sculptures and paintings are largely dry and derivative.