Plaquettes are small reliefs made of bronze, brass, lead or precious metals. They originated in the 1440s with the desire to reproduce coins and hardstone engravings from ancient Greece and Rome. Some were made as collector's pieces, to be viewed and displayed in private, and others for practical or devotional purposes, such as decorations for caskets, ink-stands and paxes. Belli spent the most important part of his career in Rome, working for two successive popes. Almost all of his bronze plaquettes are cast from his engravings in rock crystal or hardstone. This plaquette derives from a set of such engravings which were once set in the base of a rock crystal crucifix. The bronze would have been cast from a plaster or brass mould made from the original engraving.
Physical description
Oval bronze plaquette with scene of Christ carrying the cross over his shoulder, dragged along by one soldier and pushed by another. In the background a crowd of figures, some on horse-back. St. Veronica kneels at the left holding the veil with the image of Christ's face on it.
Place of Origin
Italy (made)
Date
after 1525 (made)
first half of 16th century (made)
Artist/maker
Belli, Valerio, born 1468 - died 1546 (maker)
Materials and Techniques
Bronze
Marks and inscriptions
Inscription: VALERIVS.VICENTINVS.F Valerio Vicentino (Belli) made it
Dimensions
Height: 8.3 cm, Width: 9.1 cm
Object history note
From the Salting bequest.
Historical significance: Cast from a mould made of an engraved intaglio rock crystal plaque by Valerio Belli in the Vatican Museum which was originally mounted with other oval reliefs of the Betrayal of Christ and the Entombment in the base of a rock crystal Crucifx. For other examples of the plaquette see Burns et al, 2000
Historical context note
Shows how images known from engraved gems and hardstones persisted and often appeared again in bronze plaquettes and small reliefs.
Descriptive line
Plaquette, bronze, depicting Christ bearing the cross, by Valerio Belli, after 1525, Italy
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
Maclagan, E, Catalogue of Italian Plaquettes, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1924, p.63
Pope-Hennessy, J, Renaissance Bronzes from the Samuel H. Kress Collection, London, 1965, p.9, no.8
Molinier, E, Les Plaquettes: catalogue raisonné, Paris, 1886, no.274
Kris, E,Meister und meisterwerke der steinschneidekunst in der Italienischen Renaissance, Vienna, 1929 (reprinted 1979), p.161, no.162
Burns, H, Collareta, M, Gasparotto, D, Valerio Belli Vicentino 1468c.-1546, Vicenza, 2000, p.323, no.27.6
'Salting Bequest (A. 70 to A. 1029-1910) / Murray Bequest (A. 1030 to A. 1096-1910)'. In: List of Works of Art Acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum (Department of Architecture and Sculpture). London: Printed under the Authority of his Majesty's Stationery Office, by Eyre and Spottiswoode, Limited, East Harding Street, EC, p. 77
Materials
Bronze
Techniques
Casting
Subjects depicted
Jesus Christ; Jerusalem; Veronica (Saint); Plaquettes
Categories
Sculpture; Christianity; Plaques & Plaquettes
Collection code
SCP
