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Can Grande: *
The sarcophagus of Cangrande is surmounted by an equestrian statue considered the most beautiful equestrian statue of the 14th century & attributed to Giovanni di Rigino. Cangrande is depicted smiling, sitting on his horse just after a victorious run, with the wind blowing through the damask caparison that covers the horse up to the hooves. His head is covered with a steel coif, while the helmed with a winged dog is thrown behind his shoulders
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Raphael's portraits (Pope Julius): *
Initially displayed at feast & high holy days on the pillars of the church of Santa Maria del Popolo (main northern route into Rome). Giorgio Vasari, writing long after Julius' death, said that "it was so lifelike and true it frightened everyone who saw it, as if it were the living man himself". Julius let his beard grow as a sign of mourning for the loss in war of the city of Bologna & this allows us to date the paining between June 1511 and March 1512. The original background was painted blue and gold textile (woven silk or embroidery), with gold emblems in tear shaped light blue compartments against a dark blue background. The emblems were the Papal crossed keys, the Papal tiara & the heraldic oak tree (symbol of Julius's family, the Della Rovere "Of the oak"). This was overprinted by Raphael with the green cloth. The finials of the chair are formed as acorns to represent the Della Rovere emblem. The 6 finger rings with large jewels reflect another of Julius's obsessions.
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Giovanni Bellini ("Doge" - Loredano): *
formal portrait depicts Leonardo Loredan, Doge of Venice (1501-21), in his official state robes with the corno worn over a linen cap, ornate buttons & distinctively shaped hat; painted 1501; the composition resembles a Roman sculpted portrait bust. Some art historians rank him as the greatest 15th-century official portraitist; his tendency towards ideality that impairs his private portraits in official portraits stood him in good stead.
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Michelangelo (4 nudes of the Medici chapel): *
ILLUSTRATION TOP LEFT Night is a marble sculpture on the left of the sarcophagus of the tomb of Giuliano di Lorenzo de' Medici; 5’ x 5’, maximum length 6.5’ diagonally, carved 1526-31; It is part of an allegory of the 4 parts of day.
ILLUSTRATION BOTTOM LEFT It is paired with Day.
ILLUSTRATION TOP RIGHT Dusk, dated 1524-34; on the tomb of Lorenzo II de' Medici in the Medici Chapel; work on it started simultaneously with the resuming of the works at the New Sacristy of Florence in 1524 (following Clement VII's election as pope). Work was interrupted 1531 during the Siege of Florence. Length: 6 feet 8 inches.
ILLUSTRATION BOTTOM RIGHT It is paired with Dawn
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“The whole of the portrait-work of A. Rossellino, Donatello, Benedetto de Maiano, Mino da Fiesole, stands so near in spirit to that of Van Eyck, Memlinc and the Early Rhenish masters as to be often indistinguishable from theirs.”
Spengler is arguing that the Italian sculptures he references are identical in spirit to the northern German late Gothic portraits.
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“There is not …any genuine Renaissance portraiture…portraiture in which just that artistic sentiment which differentiates the Court of the Palazzo Strozzi from the Loggia dei Lanzi and Perugino from Cimabue applies itself to the rendering of a visage.
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Michelangelo (Brutus bust): *
The bust represents heroic scorn for those who would destroy liberty (these being the Medici). A cult of Brutus emerged in the mid-16th century and Michelangelo was certainly influenced by this. The face of the sculpture is asymmetrical, with the side turned away from the spectator showing more signs of emotion, including a flared nostril.
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Botticelli (Medici portrait): *
portrait of Giuliano de' Medici, panel painted 1478, soon before Giuliano was assassinated in the Pazzi Conspiracy.
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Donatello (Uzzano bust): *
polychrome terracotta bust of Niccolò, attributed to Donatello, dated 1432
