Andrea Calamech
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Andrea Calamech (1524 – 1589) was an Italian sculptor and architect.
Born in Carrara, he became a student and studio assistant of Bartolomeo Ammannati, who was himself heavily influenced by Michelangelo. For the first part of his life he worked as a sculptor in Tuscany, collaborating with Ammannati on the Fountain of Neptune in Florence. He was summoned to Messina in 1563 to oversee works on Messina Cathedral.[1]
After a short spell back in Florence (where he was one of the designers of the apparatus for Michelangelo's funeral ceremonies in 1564) and Carrara, he returned to Messina, where in 1567 he was made chief architect, city planner and sculptor to the city council, a role he fulfilled for over twenty years.[2] He founded a Florentine art school in the city along with a dynasty of artists, working in Messina with his son Francesco and various relations such as his nephew Lazzaro Calamech and his son-in-law Rinaldo Bonanno. He died in Messina and is buried there in the church of Santa Maria dell'Idria.
