Early life and education Ottaviano Nonni was born in Bologna in 1536. Apprentice of
Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola, he was active in
Emilia and in
Rome, where he had been living in the
rione of
Borgo, in the road still bearing his name (
Via del Mascherino). Vignola’s influence is clear in Mascherino’s earliest attributed work, the Porta Pia (Porta di Sant'Isaia) in Bologna (1567–71), and it has been suggested that he merely executed Vignola’s design.
In Bologna Mascherino is documented in 1568 as the architect supervising the construction of the
Fountain of Neptune, Bologna. A year later he joined the Consiglio dei Bombasari e Pittori in Bologna, and his first documented works are paintings. Also in 1569, with Lorenzo Fiorini, in the Cubiculum Artistarum of the
University of Bologna he painted frescoes representing the Liberal Arts and executed the niche and statue of Apollo for the entrance. There are echoes of
Parmigianino,
Lorenzo Sabatini and
Giambologna in these works. In the Villa Guastavillani at Barbiano (near Bologna), there are frescoes and a statue of
Bacchus attributed to him. He probably also planned this villa, which was begun in 1575 by
Cardinal Filippo Guastavillani, a nephew of
Pope Gregory XIII.
In Rome Mascherino is documented in
Rome in 1574, where he was instrumental in introducing the style of the
Bolognese school. He was first employed as a painter at the Vatican, working on the loggias of Gregory XIII; he also painted
quadrature in the Sala del Bologna. As a painter, he was elected to the
Accademia di San Luca in 1576 and to the
Virtuosi al Pantheon in 1580. From 1574 he is also mentioned as an architect; he probably assisted the papal architect
Martino Longhi the Elder, whom he succeeded in 1577. At the Vatican he modified the east side of the Cortile di San Damaso and began what became the palace of
Pope Sixtus V. Other projects there included the construction of the
Vatican Gallery of Maps above the west corridor of the
Cortile del Belvedere (from 1578), the
Torre dei Venti (1578–80), the west loggia in the upper court of the Belvedere (1582–5) and the restructuring of Santa Marta (1582). From 1582 to 1585 he planned the restructuring of a summer palace, the Vigna d’Este, on the
Quirinal Hill in Rome, for Gregory XIII, including a
casino with a two-storey loggia and side wings, surmounted by a central tower (now part of the
Quirinal Palace). His oval staircase in the casino was one of the first to be constructed. A predilection for the oval form, and for centrally planned structures in general, is evident in many of his unrealized designs. Mascherino held the post of papal architect until the death of Gregory XIII (in 1585) and again under
Innocent IX. This gave him access to a large clientele. Ecclesiastical works in Rome for other important patrons included the Bandini Chapel in
San Silvestro al Quirinale (1580–85), the restructuring of Santa Caterina della Ruota (1585–before 1591), the church and cloister of
Santi Giovanni Evangelista e Petronio (from 1582), the supervision of the construction of
Santa Maria in Traspontina, designed (1581–7) by
Giovanni Sallustio Peruzzi, and the oval steps leading to the cloister of the
Ospedale di Santo Spirito in Sassia. In the nave of
San Salvatore in Lauro (after 1591) the use of free-standing, paired columns has contributed much to Mascherino’s fame, although the attribution is not unanimous. He also worked on the reconstruction of Roman palaces, including the Albero, Alessandrino, Ginnasi, Aldobrandini, Verospi and the Monte di Pietà. The dates and the extent of his participation in these projects are uncertain, however. Although many aspects of Mascherino’s work remain to be clarified, according to Wasserman, he is particularly interesting for his way of organizing interior spaces, for example the use of different designs for the sides of a courtyard, and for the juxtaposition of urban and suburban architectural elements. He was certainly appreciated by his contemporaries, as is clear from his nomination in 1604 as
principe of the Accademia di San Luca. He died in Rome in 1606. ==References==