More on Bertoldo

When I realized that my friends who read this blog probably have no idea who Bertoldo di Giovanni was or why he would deserve an exhibition, I thought I should add a bit of background information. Bertoldo was born in around 1440 and died in 1491. His reputation does not come from a single work of art or from all the works associated with him, but rather from his connection to two other Renaissance sculptors and a major Renaissance patron.

Bertoldo worked in Donatello’s studio and is credited with finishing some of Donatello’s work after Donatello died in 1466. One major project begun by Donatello, with which Bertoldo is connected is a pair of bronze pulpits in the church of San Lorenzo in Florence. No one has been able to definitively determine exactly what Bertoldo did there, but we know he worked with Donatello.

Then Bertoldo had strong connection with Lorenzo de Medici (1449-1492), who was the de facto ruler of Florence and a major patron of artists and collector of antiquities. Lorenzo had a sculpture garden containing many ancient works, near the church of San Marco in Florence. We know this from several documents, but we do not know exactly what was in the garden, since after the Medici were exiled in 1494, the works in the garden were dispersed. Lorenzo put Bertoldo in charge of that collection and several young artists habituated the garden, copying the antiquities, drawing, carving and modelling sculpture under the guidance of Bertoldo. The most famous of those young sculptors was Michelangelo.

So Bertoldo often gets credited with connecting Donatello, who died I 1466, with Michelangelo, who was born in 1475. From the exhibition catalogue, more than the exhibition, I’ve enjoyed thinking of Bertoldo as the artist who hung around with Lorenzo, discussing ancient art, sometimes advising on what to purchase, and making sculptures for Lorenzo’s rooms and buildings, always evoking the ancient culture that so fascinated Renaissance patrons. The catalogue essays also remind me that like other Renaissance artists, Bertoldo did not just make sculpture; he also designed ephemeral things associated with celebrations. For example, the documents refer to a 1478 fireworks wagon he designed for the festival of St. John the Baptist. The display failed and Bertoldo spent two weeks in prison.   

Bertoldo di Giovanni at the Frick Collection

In January I made a trip to New York, just to see the Bertoldo di Giovanni exhibition at the Frick Collection. I had no idea that New York would be closing down in a couple of months. My Ph.D. is in Italian Renaissance Sculpture, this was the first time the entire body of Bertoldo’s work has been shown in one place, and I was a graduate school colleague of Jim Draper, the Bertoldo expert to whom the catalogue is dedicated. It seemed important to go.

The Frick Collection has two small special exhibition galleries in the lower level, separated by a small vestibule where the exhibition catalogue is on display, usually with one work. I like this arrangement, mainly because it limits the number of objects on view and makes it easy to focus on the individual works of art without worrying about getting through an enormous display. I find it liberating that the exhibitions are relatively small and focused. Because exhibitions at the Frick are more scholarly than most, there are usually few visitors, again encouraging careful study of the works of art.

The Frick doesn’t permit photographs, but at an earlier visit the guard helpfully told me that the images are all available online, and that proves true for Bertoldo also. It is lovely that the Frick provides photographs and information on the works at its exhibition website, so you can see everything in the exhibition online. At the same time, it is particularly characteristic of sculpture exhibitions that reproductions cannot capture the spatial aspects of the works, the depth of relief, the details that can be seen from different viewing angles, and the way the art object actually occupies space. I love this about sculpture and I believe some painting experts find it challenging.

The exhibition included nineteen of the twenty works the curators think can be attributed to Bertoldo. One series of reliefs was noted only in the catalogue, since it is attached to a building, the Palazzo Scala della Gherardesca in Florence. And one series of reliefs, in the exhibition, was executed by at 

least five different artists, presumably after designs by Bertoldo. Bertoldo worked in Donatello’s studio had a role in training Michelangelo. Art historians see many connections among the three artists; part of the role of the exhibition was to call attention to Bertoldo as an artist in his own right, rather than just a conduit between two Renaissance geniuses. I much appreciated that. The exhibition catalogue is full of fascinating information and richly illustrated. Bertoldo was close to Lorenzo de’ Medici and even lived for a time in the Medici Palace.

Battle between Romans and barbarians, marble, late second century CE, Camposanto, Pisa. 

Bertoldo di Giovanni, Battle, bronze, ca. 1480-85, Museo Nazaionale del Bargello, Florence

The first work one saw, in that introductory vestibule, was Battle, ca. 1480-85, a bronze relief roughly 18 by 40 inches. Bertoldo copied it from a much larger marble Roman sarcophagus that he would have seen in the Benedictine abbey of San Zeno in Pisa. The sarcophagus was damaged, with most of the heads and the center portion gone, so he had the opportunity to revise it, at the same time he acknowledged his classical source. The label included a photograph of the sarcophagus and I was struck by how similar the compositions were; he definitely was copying the antiquity at the same time he was improvising on the theme of battle. Scholars have attempted to identify a specific battle, either mythological or contemporary, but they do not agree on the subject.  Seeing the work in person makes the high relief more striking; multiple heads and arms are in complete three dimensions. The faces, clothing, hair, and musculature of the men and horses are in crisp detail, the result of careful carving and polishing that were necessary to complete Renaissance bronzes after they are cast.

The interaction, intertwining of the active men and horses provides much to investigate. The relief is flanked by three female and one male standing figures, with two bound and captive nude males at their feet. The standing figures are copied, but modified, from the Roman original.

In the catalogue entry, Alexander J. Noelle points out that Bertoldo probably visited Pisa relatively often and acknowledges Wilhelm von Bode’s thought that Bertoldo would have accompanied Lorenzo de’ Medici on his frequent visits to Pisa, where Lorenzo had a home. Lorenzo was the de facto ruler of Florence, although he did not have any official position. Bertoldo had the unusual opportunity to be a friend of Lorenzo and at some times even to live in his palace. So, we might imagine Lorenzo and Bertoldo discussing the relief and Lorenzo asking Bertoldo to make him a version of the battle for his fireplace in the Palazzo Medici. The plan might have been simply to depict a battle, with no specific one in mind, providing his patron, Lorenzo de’ Medici, with a gorgeous classical subject for his palazzo.

How would he have made this copy? I imagine that he made detailed drawings and perhaps even modelled a copy of the relief in clay in Pisa and transported them to Florence, where he would have made the final wax model and had the bronze cast in a foundry there. Julia Day, in the exhibition catalogue, suggests that since Bertoldo lived in the Medici Palace, he may not have had space for his own foundry and used that of another artist and bronze caster, probably Adriano Fiorentino.

Bertoldo di Giovanni, Orpheus , ca 1471, bronze, Museo Nazionale del Barbello, Florence

One of my favorite works in the exhibition is the small bronze titled Orpheus, but which has also been thought to represent Apollo. With his twisting body suggestive of dancing, his upturned head that seems in a bit of a trance, and his roughly formed lira da braccia (a common Renaissance stringed instrument), he evokes a spirit of music. The sculpture shows especially effectively how much work an artist does after a bronze is cast, chiseling, filing, and polishing the surface, since parts of it -half the face, the hair, the instrument, part of the torso and animal skin on his shoulders – are still rough-cast. The unfinished quality interestingly romanticizes the image. The catalogue reports a 1471 document published in 2005 that says Bertoldo gave a bronze of Orpheus to a woolen merchant to pay his bill. It is fascinating that the cast itself is seriously flawed, with a huge crack up the back, and to think Bertoldo gave up on it because of the flaw. In addition, he used it to pay a debt in 1471 and may have passed it to the woolen merchant without finishing it.

Bertoldo di Giovanni, Bellerophon Taming Pegasus, ca. 1480-82, bronze, Kunstkammer, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Another documented work by Bertoldo is Belleraphon Taming Pegasus, which has the fascinating signature “Bertoldo modeled me, Adriano [Fiorentino] cast me,” documenting the association between Bertoldo the sculptor and Adriano the founder. Presumably Bertoldo did the final chasing after Adriano cast the figures in bronze. It captures the active nude Belleraphon taking control of the winged horse, Pegasus, with highly polished and carefully detailed surfaces.

Donatello?, Bertoldo di Giovanni?, St. Jerome, ca 1465-66, wood, gesso, paint, Pinacoteca Comunale, Faenza

A wood sculpture of St. Jerome, covered in gesso and paint, seems to be the most controversial object in the exhibition, attributed to Donatello and/or Bertoldo. I gather that scholars continue to debate who made the figure, but my own response was to be repulsed by the odd color of the skin. I wondered how much it has been restored and what it might have looked like before it was repainted. The catalogue discusses what the conservators discovered during the restoration, and its photographs indicate that the surface was probably pretty completely remade so the work looks almost new.

Bertoldo di Giovanni and Followers, Frieze for the Portico of Vill Medici at Poggio a Caiano, ca 1490, glazed terracotta, Villa Medicea di Poggio a Caiano, Polo Museale della Toscana

The exhibition contains mostly bronzes, but I was surprised to see a terracotta frieze, from front of the Medici villa at Poggio a Caiano, arranged around the walls of the second gallery. While the unidentified subject is definitely classical, it’s obvious that several artists – the catalogue says five – executed it and there is no documentation that Bertoldo was associated with it. The attribution comes from the fact that he died at Poggio a Caiano and thus might have been there to design the frieze, which possibly he and others executed. The reliefs are varied in quality, with different depths of relief, different spacing of figures, and more and less clumsy modelling. But since it was intended for an upper cornice on the outside of a building, having the figures silhouetted against a blue background with some of the eyes exaggeratedly deep, might have been all that was necessary. It did make we want to go to Poggio a Caiano.

The exhibition also included six medals designed by Bertoldo. Nicely displayed, so both sides can be seen, they are historically interesting. Having some experience with medals, I find them very difficult to appreciate, however, without being able to hold them, since they were intended to be handled.

This was one of a series of exhibitions examining the work of Renaissance artists who worked in bronze. The Frick has a large collection of small bronzes and it’s impressive that they are using the collection as a springboard for fascinating exhibitions with substantial scholarly catalogues.

Verrocchio at the National Gallery

In November I went to Washington specifically to see the much-praised Andrea del Verrocchio exhibition at the National Gallery, and in January I went to New York primarily for the Bertoldo di Giovanni exhibition at the Frick Collection. As I await the Bertoldo catalogue, it's time to make some comments about the Verrocchio show. Both have closed.
My PhD focused on Italian Renaissance sculpture, but it has been years since I've followed the scholarship or engaged in discussions or debates about the subject. So while on the one hand I know more than a general audience, on the other I can't call myself an expert anymore. I had looked forward eagerly to the Verrocchio exhibition and was very disappointed. The catalogue has provided substantially more information about the works in the exhibition and it's very worthwhile, with several excellent essays. They explained some of my issues with the exhibition.

David, bronze with partial gilding, Museo Nazionale del Bargello,
Florence, bronzi 450 and 451

The exhibition was surprisingly small, just three galleries, one primarily sculpture, one drawings and one paintings. The centerpiece was the splendid bronze David, which looked great, but perhaps might have been easier to examine on a slightly lower pedestal. Because David's feet were at eye level, I became obsessed by his boots, which have sandal-like open toes and seem very thin, not exactly practical, but effective in showing the anatomy of his feet.
The label was informative about the process of completing such a large bronze, that casting was only a middle step and the entire work was patched, carved, hammered, polished, and gilded in order to become as smooth and detailed as it is. The catalogue discusses how Verrocchio may have used his experience casting bells and other large items in casting this relatively large free-standing metal sculpture. It also discusses Verrocchio's training as a goldsmith, an important aspect of Renaissance sculpture that is represented in the exhibition by a small agate covered vase and the terracotta study for a figure on the silver altar of Florence Baptistery.

Lady with Flowers, marble, Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence, 115.5

Other sculptures that caught my attention were the Putto with a Fish, a small figure that begins to twist in space, and the marble Lady with Flowers from the Bargello Museum in Florence.  The Lady with Flowers is subtly carved and polished, with a slight tilt of the head and hands that seem caught in gentle motion. She was far more beautiful than I had remembered.

Giuliano de' Medici, Andrea del Verrocchio, terracotta with traces of polychromy, National Gallery of Art, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.127

More sculptures include portraits of Giuliano and Lorenzo de' Medici, a marble relief possibly of Alexander the Great,, several terracotta studies, small bronzes, and a large candlestick, many of them attributed to Verrocchio and/or assistants.  The Alexander the Great is lovely white marble, perhaps a bit more precious than I like to think Verrocchio would have embraced. The portrait of Giuliano de' Medici is impressive.

Alexander the Great, Andrea del Verrocchio and Assistants? Carrara marble, National Gallery of Art, Gift of Thomas K. Straus, 1956.2.1

Like many exhibitions of Renaissance artists, this one could not include several key works, which are either too large or incorporated into the walls of buildings in Italy. The catalogue addresses several and this helps give Verrocchio his due as a sculptor. Sadly, one major work, Christ and St. Thomas, made for a niche on Or San Michele in Florence, was included in the Leonardo exhibition in Paris instead of this Verrocchio show. It alone would have given the exhibition more weight.
The paintings were more problematic. Gretchen A. Hirschauer and Elizabeth Walmsley in the catalogue identify two paintings as surely by Verrocchio, neither of which is in the exhibition and both of which are significantly collaborative productions. All the paintings in the exhibition are attributed to Verrocchio or  supposedly influenced by him or by artists in his studio. They are half-length Madonnas in a clearly late 15th-century somewhat linear style. While these Madonnas did share many similarities, it was difficult to see those given to Verrocchio as leaders or to see why the particular works were chosen for inclusion. But here's a link to some research on a couple of them. And it led me to fantasize the exhibition curators scrambling to find appropriate paintings to fill out the exhibition.
In the center of the gallery, completely outshining this parade of half-length Madonnas is Leonardo's portrait of Ginevra de' Benci, a subtly modeled image of a specific individual, with carefully calibrated and balanced colors. I always visit this painting when I am in the National Gallery and only recently have realized how condescending her expression is. Shown here among half-length Madonnas, it looks disturbingly truncated, cut off at the shoulders and missing both arms and hands. The cut-off emblem on the reverse of the painting confirms the loss, but this context really calls it to attention.

 Tobias and the Angel, Andrea del Verrocchio and assistants,
The National Gallery, London, Bought 1857, NG781

Attributing the fish and the dog in the probably-by-Verrocchio and studio Tobias and the Angel to Leonardo seemed odd, even though those particular details are remarkably well painted. From an artistic culture where collaboration was the norm, everyone seems to be trying to select out evidence of individual genius while the catalogue insists that all the production of a Florentine studio belongs to the studio head, i.e.Verrocchio.