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Alessi, Andrea [Alesi, Andrija; Alexii, Andreas; Andrea di Niccolò da Durazzo]
(b Dürres, c. 1425; d Split, 1504). Dalmatian sculptor and architect of Albanian birth. Although he is recorded in 1435 at Zadar as a pupil of Marco di Pietro da Troia, his most important artistic influence was the Late Gothic style of Giorgio da Sebenico, with whom he worked in 1445 on Sibenik Cathedral and in 1452 at Ancona on the Loggia dei Mercanti. Between 1448 and 1460 Alessi also controlled his own workshop at Split and Rab. In 1466 he began work on his masterpiece, the baptistery at Trogir, which was finished in 1467. The chapel is rectangular in plan, covered with a barrel vault with acute angled coffers; its richly decorated interior is an eclectic blend of Late Gothic and Renaissance elements. The sculpture shares these characteristics: the Baptism of Christ over the entrance, with its elongated figures and complex drapery patterns, derives from Giorgio da Sebenico’s mannered style, while St Jerome in the Desert and the putti bearing garlands in the interior show the influence of Niccolò di Giovanni Fiorentino, with whom Alessi collaborated on the chapel of the Blessed Giovanni Orsini (1468–c. 1497) at Trogir Cathedral, where Alessi’s contribution was limited to a statue of St Jerome and several reliefs of putti carrying torches. In 1472, again with Niccolò, he restored the campanile of Split Cathedral, and a year later they collaborated on the façade and doorway of S Maria al Mare on the island of St Nicholas in the Tremiti. From 1474 Alessi lived in Split, where he executed some minor works, including the altar in St Jerome at Mt Marjan (signed and dated 1480) and several small reliefs of St Jerome in the Desert (Florence, Fond. Longhi; Liverpool, Walker A.G.). In 1488 he gave his services free of charge to reinforce fortifications against the Turks. Alessi was an eclectic artist, capable of absorbing stylistic elements from other masters, but never able to match their creative force.
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