MAURO CODUSSI was
one of the outstanding architects in Venetian history. His work signals
the change of Venetian architecture from Gothic to the Renaissance.
Nowhere is this more dramatically illustrated than at the Church of
S. Zaccaria, where the lower level of the facade begun by Antonio Gambello
utilizes traditional Gothic elements and the upper levels completed
by Codussi move emphatically to the classical motifs of the Renaissance.
Other prominent works include the Venetian churches of S. Michele in
Isola and S. Maria Formosa.
Ca'
Cornaro (later called Ca' Cornaro-Spinelli), built by the Lando
family and attributed to Codussi, first introduced classical motives
to residential architecture of Venice on a broad and cohesive basis.
The Cornaro della Regina Chapel at
Church of SS. Apostoli is also attributed to Codussi.
In Lieberman's
view (Renaissance Architecture in Venice), the strength and
variety of Codussi's works ranks him with Jacopo
Sansovino and Baldassare Longhena.
Lieberman notes that in the six years before his death Codussi crowned
his achievements in church, staircase and palace design with three
of the city's greatest buildings: the Church of S. Giovanni Crisostomo,
Scuola S. Giovanni Evangelista, and Ca' Vendramin-Calergi.
