Desiderio Da Settignano : Sculptor of Renaissance Florence

by Bormand, Marc; Paolozzi Strozzi, Beatrice; Penny, Nicholas

• ISBN13: 9788874393657
• ISBN10: 8874393652
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-10-01
• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams

Summary

This long-awaited monograph is dedicated to one of the most noted masters of Florentine Renaissance sculpture. Desiderio da Settignano (ca. 1429/30-1464), like most sculptors before Michelangelo, was long overlooked by scholars, who focused their attention almost exclusively on Donatello, the great master of the quattrocento. And yet Desiderio, who may have begun his career in Donatello's workshop, became one of the most original and influential sculptors in Florence. His impact is clear in the numerous replicas of his Virgin and Child reliefs as well as copies of the Bambino in the Basilica of San Lorenzo. His work, showing an early interest in sfumato, may even have influenced the paintings of Leonardo da Vinci. Sweetness, strength, and luminosity are the principal qualities of Desiderio's oeuvre. The expressive power, emotion, lightness, and grace visible in his work affirm the place he now occupies not only in the history of sculpture but also in the history of art. This retrospective catalogue devoted to Desiderio da Settignano-published in conjunction with the exhibition organised by the Musée du Louvre in Paris, the Museo Nazionale del Bargello in Florence, and at the National Gallery of Art in Washington-invites us to discover or rediscover one of the most important sculptors of the Florentine Renaissance.

Table of Contents

Essays	p. 15
Desiderio, Vasari, and Us	p. 17
Desiderio in the Workshop: Masters and Pupils, Works and Clients Mentioned in the Documentation and Sources	p. 25
Desiderio: Style Aspiring to Grace	p. 49
Donatello and Desiderio: A Suggestion and Some Reflections on the Martelli Saint John	p. 61
Desiderio and Low Relief	p. 75
Desiderio da Settignano: Profiles of Heroes and Heroines of the Ancient World	p. 87
Desiderio and Florence in the 19th Century: Stage Set of a Myth	p. 103
Desiderio da Settignano in His Time	p. 111
Desiderio's Florence	p. 114
Catalogue	p. 117
Funerary Monument of Carlo Marsuppini	p. 118
Martelli Saint John	p. 124
The Busts	p. 128
Saint John the Baptist	p. 132
Young Boy	p. 138
Young Deacon (Saint Laurence or Saint Leonard?)	p. 142
Young Girl	p. 146
Portrait of a Lady, said to be Marietta Strozzi	p. 150
Saint Constance ("La Belle Florentine")	p. 154
Technical Study and Restoration of La Belle Florentine	p. 158
The Bambini	p. 160
Laughing Boy	p. 164
The Christ Child (?)	p. 168
A Little Boy	p. 172
Desiderio's Reliefs	p. 176
Christ and Saint John the Baptist as Children (The Arconati Visconti Tondo)	p. 180
Julius Caesar	p. 188
Saint Jerome in the Desert	p. 192
The Madonnas	p. 192
Madonna and Child (The Turin Madonna)	p. 200
Madonna and Child (After tbe Turin Madonna)	p. 204
Madonna and Child (The Lyon Madonna)	p. 208
Madonna and Child (The Foule Madonna)	p. 210
Madonna and Child (The Panciatichi Madonna)	p. 214
Decorative Sculpture and Stone Furnishings	p. 218
Domestic Alterspiece	p. 222
Serzelli Coat of Arms	p. 226
Tabernacle of San Lorenzo	p. 228
The Bambino of San Lorenzo	p. 236
Christ Child Blessing (Paris, RF 1218)	p. 240
Christ Child Blessing (Prato)	p. 244
Christ Child Blessing (Florence)	p. 246
Christ Child Blessing (Paris, RF 697)	p. 250
Back Matter	p. 253
Glossary	p. 255
General Bibliography	p. 257
Index	p. 273
Photographic Credits	p. 387
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