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The first book to be dedicated to the topic, Patronage and Italian Renaissance Sculpture reappraises the creative and intellectual roles of sculptor and patron. The volume surveys artistic production from the Trecento to the Cinquecento in Rome, Pisa, Florence, Bologna, and Venice. Using a broad range of approaches, the essayists question the traditional concept of authorship in Italian Renaissance sculpture, setting each work of art firmly into a complex socio-historical context. Emphasizing the role of the patron, the collection re-assesses the artistic production of such luminaries as Michelangelo, Donatello, and Giambologna, as well as lesser-known sculptors. Contributors shed new light on the collaborations that shaped Renaissance sculpture and its reception.
List of contents
Contents: Foreword; Introduction: the virtues of the medium: the patronage of sculpture in Renaissance Italy, Kathleen Wren Christian and David J. Drogin; 'There are many sculptors but to Giovanni remain the honors of praise': the rhetoric of Giovanni Pisano's words and images, Francis Ames-Lewis; Professors and princes: patronage of sculpture in the Capella Bentivoglio, Bologna, David J. Drogin; The humanist and the poet: Bernardo Bembo's portrait of Dante, Debra Pincus; Partnerships in commemoration: the patronage and production of the Brusati and Barbo tombs in quattrocento Rome, Shelley E. Zuraw; Donatello and his patrons, David G. Wilkins; Reversing the rules: Michelangelo and the patronage of sculpture, William E. Wallace; Passim: sculptors and sculptural patronage in and beyond Florence in the 15th century, Roger J. Crum; Giambologna's equestrian monument to Cosimo I: the monument makes the memory, Sarah Blake McHam; Pirro Ligorio's Roman fountains and the concept of the antique: investigations of the ancient nymphaeum in cinquecento antiquarian culture, Robert W. Gaston; Selected works cited; Index.
Summary
The first book to be dedicated to the topic, Patronage and Italian Renaissance Sculpture reappraises the traditional roles of sculptor and patron. The volume sets each work of art into a socio-historical context-the relationship between artists, patrons, and viewers are reframed to shed new light on the collaborations that shaped the art of Renaissance sculpture in Italy.
Report
'Recommended. Upper-level under-graduates and above; general readers.' Choice
'The essays are often insightful and all beautifully illustrated (sculpture is best viewed in black and white reproductions), and the collection is a valuable reference for all scholars of this early modern period.' Renaissance Quarterly
