DELLA QUERCIA, or DELLA FONTE, JACOPO '438), Italian sculptor, was born at Siena. He was the son of a goldsmith of repute, Pietro d'Agnolo. In 1394 he made an eques trian statue of Gian Tedesco. In 14o2 he was one of six artists who submitted designs for the great gates of the baptistery in Florence, in which competition Ghiberti was the victor. In 14o6 he executed one of his finest works, the monument of Ilaria del Caretto, wife of Paolo Guinigi, at Lucca, and received a commis sion for the famous Fonte Gaia, at Siena, early in 'pc,. This work was not seriously begun by him until 1414, and was only finished in 1419. In 1858 the remains of the fountain were re moved to the Opera del Duomo, where they are now preserved; a copy of the original by Sarrocchi being erected on the site. After another visit to Lucca in 1422, he returned to Siena, and in March 1425 undertook the contract for the doors of S. Petronio, Bologna. He was known, in following years, to have gone to Milan, Verona, Ferrara, and Venice; but the rest of his life was chiefly divided between his native city and Bologna. In 143o he finished the great font of S. Giovanni at Siena, which he had begun in 1417, contributing himself only one of the bas-reliefs, "Zacharias in the Temple," the others being by Ghiberti, Dona tello, and other sculptors. Among the work known to have been done by Jacopo may be mentioned also the reliefs of the predella of the altar of S. Frediano at Lucca (1422) ; and the Bentivoglio monument which was unfinished at the time of his death on Oct. 20, 1438. Jacopo della Quercia's work exercised a powerful influ ence on that of the artists of the later Italian Renaissance. He himself reflects not a little of the Gothic spirit, admirably inter mixed with some of the best qualities of neo-classicism. His powers have hardly yet received the recognition they deserve.
(E. F. S.)