SANSOVINO, JACOPO (1486-1570), Italian sculptor and architect, was born at Caprese near Florence, his family name being Tatti. He became a pupil of Andrea Sansovino, from whom he received his name. In 1503 he accompanied Giuliano di San gallo to Rome, devoting himself there to the study of the antique.
Julius II. employed him to restore damaged statues, and he made a copy of the Laocoon group, which was afterwards cast in bronze. In 1511 he returned to Florence, and began the statue of St. James the Elder, which is now in a niche in one of the great piers of the Duomo. He carved a nude figure of "Bacchus and Pan," now in the Bargello. Soon afterwards Jacopo returned to Rome, and designed for his fellow-citizens the church of S. Giovanni dei Fiorentini, carried out by Antonio Sangallo the younger. A marble group of the "Madonna and Child," now in S. Agostino, was his next important work. In 1527 Jacopo fled from the sack of Rome to Venice, where he remained the rest of his life. He had charge of the public buildings adjacent to the Piazza di S. Marco, with the exception of the Doge's Palace. His most important works of sculpture at Venice are the colossal statues of "Neptune" and "Mars" on the grand staircase of the ducal palace; the bronze doors of the sacristy of St. Mark, cast in 1556 and the series of six bronze reliefs round the choir of the same church. In 1565 he completed a small bronze gate with a graceful relief of "Christ surrounded by Angels"; this gate shuts off the altar of the Reserved Host in the choir of St. Mark's.
He made the monument of the Doge Francesco Venier, who died in 1556.
Jacopo's chief claim to distinction rests upon the numerous fine Venetian buildings which he designed, such as the public library, the mint and the Palazzo Corner della Ca Grande and the Palazzo Manin on the grand canal ; also the graceful Loggetta of the Campanile di San Marco with the bronze statues of Peace, Mercury, Apollo and Pallas. Among his ecclesiastical works the chief were the choir of S. Fantino, the church of S. Martino and the facades of S. Maria Mater Domini and of the Scuola di S. Giorgio dei Schiavoni.
In 1545 the roof of the public library, which he was then con structing, fell in; on this account he was imprisoned and fined. However, he was soon set at liberty, and in 1548 he was restored to his post. He died on Nov. 27, 1570. Sansovino's architectural works have much beauty of proportion and grace of ornament, a little marred in some cases by an excess of sculptured decoration, though the carving itself is always beautiful, both in design and execution. He used the classic orders with great freedom and tasteful invention, and was instrumental in introducing the High Renaissance into Venice. He was much assisted by Alessandro Vittoria (1524-1608).