Model

Physical description

Terracotta model for a marble monument. Design shows the kneeling Cardinal Niccoló Forteguerri surrounded by the virtues Faith, Hope, Charity, with Christ above in a mandorla supported by four angels.

Place of Origin

Florence, Italy (made)

Date

ca. 1476 (made)

Artist/maker

Verrocchio, born 1435 - died 1488 (maker)

Materials and Techniques

Terracotta

Dimensions

Height: 44.6 cm, Width: 31.8 cm, Depth: 8.5 cm, Weight: 6.12 kg

Object history note

Sketch model for the monument of Cardinal Niccolo Forteguerri. The monument was commissioned from Verrocchio by the commune of Pistoia in 1476 and the present model was probably prepared that time. Verrocchio's free handling of the clay is masterful, with some areas sketchy and others more precisely worked.

Descriptive line

Sketch Model for the monument in Pistoia of Cardinal Niccolò Forteguerri, terracotta, by Andrea del Verrocchio, Italy, 1476

Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)

Williamson, Paul, ed. European Sculpture at the Victoria and Albert Museum. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1996. 191p., ill. ISBN 1851771883.
Maclagan, Eric and Longhurst, Margaret H. Catalogue of Italian Sculpture. Text. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1932, pp. 58, 59
Inventory of Art Objects Acquired in the Year 1861 In: Inventory of the Objects in the Art Division of the Museum at South Kensington, Arranged According to the Dates of their Acquisition. Vol I. London: Printed by George E. Eyre and William Spottiswoode for H.M.S.O., 1868, p. 29
Seymour, Jr., Charles. The Sculpture of Verrocchio. London, 1971, p. 164
Passavant, G. Verrocchio, Sculptures, Paintings and Drawings, Coplete Edition. London, 1969, pp. 8, 24-26, 28, 36, 39, 57, 178-180, 184, cat. no. 9, pl. 40
Seymour Jr., Charles Sculpture in Italy 1400-1500 Pelican History of Art, Harmondsworth 1966. pp. 176-77, 246, note 14
Raggio, Olga. Catalogue of Italian Sculpture in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Art Bulletin. Vol. L, 1968, p. 102
Pope-Hennessy, John. Catalogue of Italian Sculpture in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Volume I: Text. Eighth to Fifteenth Century. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1964, pp. 164-166
Poeschke, J. Die Skulptur der Renaissance in Italien, Band I. Donatello und seine Zeit, (Munich, 1990), pp. 33, 190, fig. 88
Avery, Charles. Florentine Renaissance Sculpture. New York, 1970. p. 141, pl 109
Avery, Charles. Fingerprints of the artist. European Terra-Cotta from the Artur M. Sackler Collection. Exh. Cat, Washington, 1981, pp. 18-19
Bückling, Maraike. 'Bozzetti, Modelle und Musterfiguren. Der Entwurfsprozess von Skulpturen bei Verrocchio'. In: Beck, H.; Bückling, M. and Lein, E., eds. Die Christus-Thomas-Gruppe von Andrea del Verrocchio. Frankfurt, 1996, pp. 219-232: p. 221, fig. 117
Wittkower, R. Sculpture. Process and Principles . London, 1977, p. 89, fig 6 and pp. 89-90
Trusted, Marjorie, ed. The Making of Sculpture. The Materials and Techniques of European Sculpture. London: 2007, p. 39, pl. 59
Bormand, Marc; Paolozzi Strozzi, Beatrice; Penny, Nicolas. Desiderio da Settignano. Sculptor of Renaissance Florence. Exhibiton Catalogue, Musée du Louvre, Paris; Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence; National Art Gallery, Washington, 2007, p. 83, fig 54
Carl, Doris. Benedetto da Maiano. A Florentine Sculptor at the Threshold of the High Renaissance. Regensburg, 2006, pp. 86, 87 - n. 121, 320, fig. 30

Exhibition History

Renaissance Florence: The art of the 1470s. (National Gallery (London) 20/10/1999-16/01/2000)
Earth And Fire : Italian Terracotta Sculpture From Donatello To Canova (Victoria and Albert Museum 14/03/2002-07/07/2002)
Earth And Fire : Italian Terracotta Sculpture From Donatello To Canova (Museum of Fine Arts, Houston 18/11/2001-03/02/2002)

Labels and date

SKETCH-MODEL for the monument of Cardinal Niccoló Forteguerri
1476
Andrea del Verrocchio (1435-88)