Finiguerra, Maso

Related Category: European Art to 1599: Biographies

(mä´zō, tōm–mä´zō fēnēgwĕr´rä), 1426–64, Florentine goldsmith and engraver during the Renaissance. In the 1450s he joined with Antonio Pollaiuolo. It is said that Pollaiuolo created original designs that Finiguerra translated into different media. An example of such collaboration is the pax of the Crucifixion for the baptistery of St. John, Florence, executed in niello engraving by Finiguerra. Others include the Triumph of Bacchus and Ariadne and Crucifixion (both: British Mus.). For the latter works he used the new process of copperplate engraving. Of his own design were the wood panels for the sacristy of the cathedral in Florence (1463) and some niello plaques now in the Metropolitan Museum.