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(Mannerist sculpture outside Italy)

‘[Adriaan de Vries]* “Psyche with Three Cupids[”] (Nationalmuseum, Stockholm) is a characteristic example of his stylishness – a wonderful satin finish, spiralling complexity, and a soaring grace reminiscent of Giambologna’s “Mercury”** (Figure 60).***

****

*(in Prague from 1601[ce])

**[See last previous ts journal entry]

***[Image not included in ms or ts]

**** – ibid [Encyclopaedia Britannica 27:] 98

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{Renaissance Sculpture [continued (14)](High Renaissance and Mannerism [continued (4)][Benevenuto Cellini, Giambologna][30th April 1991]

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[continued]

dominated Florentine scuplture at the end of the 16^th century, training artists who were to carry late 16th-century ideas into the rest of Europe and prepare the way for the nascent Baroque’

*

* – ibid [Encyclopaedia Britannica 27:] 97-98

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{Renaissance Sculpture [continued (13)](High Renaissance and Mannerism [continued (3)])[Michelangelo [continued (3)]]}[30th April 1991]

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‘The “Pietà”, or “Deposition”, in the museum of the cathedral of Florence dates from around 1550[ce] and may have been intended by Michelangelo for use in his own tomb. The figure of Nicodemus is a self-portrait* and indicates Michelangelo’s deep religious convictions and his growing concern with religion. His final work, the “Rondanini Pietà” (1552-64[ce]), now in the Castello Sforzesco, Milan, is certainly his most personal and most deeply felt expression in sculpture. The artist had almost completely carved the piece when he changed his mind, returned to the block, and drastically reduced the breadth of the figures. He was working on the stome 10 days before he died, and the piece remains unfinished. In its rough state the “Rondanini Pietà” clearly shows that Michelangelo had turned from the rather muscular figure of Christ of his earlier works (as can be seen from the partially detached original right arm) to a more elongated and more dematerialised form.’

**

*(cf Last Judgement?)

[Sistine Chapel altarpiece]

** – ibid [Encyclopaedia Britannica 27: 97]

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{Renaissance Sculpture [continued (12)](High Renaissance and Mannerism [continued])[Michelangelo [continued]]}[30th April 1991]

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‘It is this subtle balance and adjustment of parts to create a unified and harmonious whole that places this work* firmly in the High Renaissance style that was appearing simultaneously in painting and architecture.’

**

*Michelangelo’s “David”

** – ibid [Encyclopaedia Britannica 27:] 97

(illus[tration] on ibid [Encyclopaedia Britannica 27:] 96)

[The illustration referred to, captioned ‘Figure 59: “David” marble statue by Michelangelo, 1501-04[ce] in the Accademia, Florence. Height 5.49m.’, is reproduced in the ms but not in the ts]

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{Renaissance Sculpture [continued (11)](High Renaissance and Mannerism)[Michelangelo]}[30th April 1991]

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‘By 1496 [Michelangelo]* was in Rome, where he carved a “Bacchus”, now in the Bargello, Florence. Michelangelo captures the antique treatment of the young male figure by the soft modulation of contours. The figure seems to be slightly off-balance, and the parted lips and hazy eyes suggest that he is under the influence of wine. The little faun also joins in the Bacchic revel by slyly stealing some grapes. In his first major sculptural work the 21-year-old artist succeeded in capturing the spirit of the antique as no artist before him had done.’

**

*[Square brackets per ts]

** – ibid [Encyclopaedia Britannica 27:] 95-96

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{Renaissance Sculpture [continued (10)][Andrea del Verocchio]}[30th April 1991]

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‘Andrea del Verocchio was more interested than these sculptors were in movement, which he expressed in a somewhat restrained manner. His group of “Christ and St. Thomas” for Or San Michele (c[irca]1467-83[ce]) solves the problem of a crowded niche by placing St. Thomas partly outside the niche* and causing him to turn** inward toward the figure of Christ.... The “Putto with Dolpin” (c[irca]1479[ce]; formerly in the Palazzio Vecchio, Florence, but now replaced by a copy) is at once an exquisite fountain decoration, an antique motif restated in Renaissance terms, and the clearest statement of Verocchio’s interest in suggested movement. The child in the piece is seen to be turning;*** the movement is reinforced by the fish,**** and the suggestion of motion culminates in the actual movement of the water# spouting from the dolphin’s#* mouth.’

#**

*(cf Sistine [Chapel] Ceiling)

**(cf below↓[***])

***R~C

****G~ (cf Sistine [Chapel Ceiling] Jonah)

#R~

#*{cf Delphinus in the Sky, located inwards from Capricornus (& Aquarius)}

#** – ibid [Encyclopaedia Britannica 27:] 95-96

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‘The elegant, polished antique gods made by Antico in Mantua and the brilliantly modelled satyrs made by Riccio in Padua set a standard in such works that has never been excelled.’*

**

*(my emphasis)

** – ibid [Encyclopaedia Britannica 27:95]

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{Renaissance Sculpture [continued (8)][Donatello (continued (3))]}[30th April 1991]

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‘One of [Donatello’s]* first works upon his return to Florence was a wooden statue of Mary Magdalene for the baptistry of the Cathedral. The nervous energy and conscious distortion of forms that may be detected in all his work becomes explicit in the emaciated figure clothed in her own hair. This same emotionalism and distortion is even more pronounced in his last work, the pulpits for the church of S. Lorenzo in Florence.’

**

*[Square brackets per ts]

** – ibid [Encyclopaedia Britannica 27:95]

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‘Donatello is not concerned with particulars but with the idealised and generalised aspect of man that reveal his potential nobility.’

*

* – ibid [Encyclopaedia Britannica 27:95]

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{Renaissance Sculpture [continued (6)][Donatello]}[30th April 1991]

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‘Donatello dominated Florentine sculpture of the second quarter of the 15^th century [ce]. He executed a series of prophets and a “Cantoria”, or singing[-]balcony, for the cathedral, saints for Or San Michele, decorative reliefs and bronze doors for the Old Sacristy of S. Lorenzo, and a bronze “David” (now in the Bargello, Florence) that comes closer to recapturing the spirit of antiquity than any other work of the early Renaissance – indeed, the very idea of a free-standing sculpture of a nude hero was without precedent since antiquity.’*

**

*{cf the idea of the strip-tease of the Soul (not much tease) – eg in Astarte’s descent to Hell, and the Dance of the 7 Veils: like Classical Greece, the Renaissance until now represents the later stages of the rotational descent. BUT the Romans did imitate Greek nudes; & cf c[ontra]*** The Sistine Chapel’s supportive Putti.}

** – ibid [Encyclopaedia Britannica 27:95]

***[ie contra direction (although arguably not)? – see earlier volume/s re the Sistine Chapel ceiling]

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{Renaissance Sculpture [continued (5)][Ghiberti]}[30th April 1991]

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‘At the time that he was executing his first set of bronze doors, Ghiberti undertook to cast the first life-sized bronze statue since antiquity, his “St John the Baptist” (1412-16[ce]) for Or San Michele.* Although the figure and its draperies reveal Ghiberti’s strong adherence to late Gothic style, with this work he moved technically into the Renaissance.’

**

*[sic]

** – ibid [Encyclopaedia Britannica 27:]95

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