O AMADEO, or OMODEO (1447-1520), was born on a farm near
the Certosa of Pavia. When but nineteen years old his name appears as
one of those who were employed upon this splendid edifice, and the
records of his payments show that his work was well considered, even
then. Omodeo was undoubtedly the best sculptor of his time in all
Lombardy, and his sculptures in the Colleoni Chapel at Bergamo would be
sufficient to make any artist famous. The whole work may be called his,
for he designed the building and the sculptures of the facade, which are
in the richest style of the Renaissance; there are statuettes,
colonettes, busts, medallions, and bas-reliefs, and wherever a flat
surface exists it is divided into diamond-shaped slabs of colored
marbles. The portal is very much ornamented: on each side of the rose
window above this entrance there are busts of Caesar and Augustus in
contrast with numbers of angels' heads not far away. There are
bas-reliefs representing children playing upon musical instruments, and
the whole front of the chapel, with its numerous pilasters and
colonettes, has been compared to a gigantic organ, by Mr. Perkins, in
his "Italian Sculptors".

Of the interior decoration we can only say that it is much in Omodeo's
style, though the monument to Colleoni, the founder of the chapel, is
said to be the work of German sculptors, and to have been done after
Omodeo left Bergamo.

At Pavia, Omodeo succeeded Guiniforte as chief architect of the Certosa,
and designed the facade, which was made by him and his successors. The
bas-relief of the Deposition from the Cross, which is on the front of
the high-altar here, is the work of Omodeo. At Cremona and at Isola
Bella he executed some monuments, but at length, in 1490, he began his
work on the Cathedral of Milan. Here a cupola was commenced after his
model and under his direction; but when it was partly done doubts of its
solidity were expressed, and Omodeo was commanded to leave it and design
the north door to the cathedral. He also constructed the spiral
staircase leading to the roof through an elegant Gothic turret, where
the medallion portrait of Omodeo may be seen. It has since been proved
that the cupola of Omodeo was solid enough, for it has sustained the
spire which was put upon it in 1772; but he was tormented concerning it
in many ways, and died without justification.

Omodeo stands at the head of northern Italian sculptors in his dexterous
use of his chisel