Laurana was born in
Vrana, near
Zadar, in
Dalmatia. Under Venetian rule Vrana was named
La Vrana, from
romance de Vrana, giving the surname used by Francesco Laurana: LA VRANA -> LAVRANA which is read like LAURANA because the letter U is written as V in inscriptions in Latin. After an apprenticeship under a sculptor, he began his solo career at
Naples, where he was one of the team of sculptors finishing the triumphal arch of
Castel Nuovo for
Alfonso V of Aragon. After the death of Alfonso (1458) he was called to
Aix-en-Provence to the court of
René d'Anjou, the former and still titular King of Naples, who commissioned him to do a series of bronze portrait
medals of personages at the court. From 1466 to 1471 Laurana was in
Sicily. Works of this period include the Mastrantonio Chapel and the tomb of Pietro Speciale in the church of S. Francesco in
Palermo, the side door of the church of St. Marguerite in
Sciacca,
Madonna and Child sculptures in the cathedrals of
Palermo (1471) and
Noto, and a bust allegedly portraying
Eleanor of Aragon, now in the
Palazzo Abatellis in Palermo, Sicily. In 1471 he traveled to Naples where he executed the sculpture of the
Virgin in the Sta. Barbara Chapel. From 1474 to 1477 Laurana spent three years in
Urbino, where his relative
Luciano Laurana worked. He then went to Marseille, where he built a small chapel in the
Cathedral of S. Marie Majeure (1475–1481), the first structure in France designed entirely in the Renaissance style. His workshop in Marseille created the St. Lazarus marble altar as well as the
retable of the Calvary in St. Didier d'
Avignon, and the tombs of Giovanni Cossa at Sainte-Marthe de Tarascon and
Charles, comte du Maine, in
Le Mans. Laurana died at
Marseille or Avignon, in 1502. ==Notes==