This console, with acanthus leaves and other Renaissance decoration, came from a fort on the Adriatic coast. The fort was commissioned by Giovanni della Rovere, Lord of Senigallia and nephew of Pope Sixtus IV.A corbel rather than a capital, the object would have been set in to the wall at the point where the vault of the ceiling meets the wall providing an aesthetic termination rather than any significant architectural support.
Physical description
Pilaster capital of Istrian stone. Carved with a tapered bracket, from which rises acanthus foliage. To left and right lynx masks terminating in acanthus leaves, with, between them, a sphinx seated on a helmet. At the top a concave moulding.
Place of Origin
Italy (made)
Date
ca. 1483-1490 (made)
Artist/maker
Francesco di Giorgio, born 1439 - died 1501 (maker)
Materials and Techniques
Istrian stone
Dimensions
Height: 46.1 cm, Width: 36.2 cm, Depth: 23.6 cm
Object history note
Purchased in London by J C Robinson with 20 others.
Descriptive line
Capital from the Rocca Roveresca di Mondolfo near Sinigallia in the Marches, central Italy, Istrian stone, about 1483-1490
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
Baker, Malcolm and Richardson, Brenda, eds. A Grand Design : The Art of the Victoria and Albert Museum. London: V&A Publications, 1997. 431 p., ill. ISBN 1851773088.
These crisply carved capitals were among a group of twenty-one acquired as examples of Renaissance ornament. Like the casts from Santa Maria de' Miracoli (cat.24), they illustrate the way in which the Museum's concern to assemble a repertory of decorative motifs made ornamental, nonfigurative carving a significant element within the collection of sculpture. J. C. Robinson had always advocated "a systematic collection of medieval and renaissance sculpture" in view of its "intimate connection" with the decorative arts. This was to include "auxiliary illustrations", such as prints and photographs, and especially plaster casts. In Robinson's view however, there was no substitute for original artworks; casts were to be selected only to fill gaps in a series. Since the opening of the Aston Webb extension in 1909, these capitals have been shown in various settings alongside some larger works of architectural sculpture.
The capitals came from the Rocca Roveresca di Mondolfo (destroyed 1864-1895) near Sinigallia in the Marches, central Italy. It is thought that this stronghold was built between 1483 and 1490 and designed, at least in part, by the painter, sculptor, architect and engineer Francesco di Giorgio Martini for Giovanni della Rovere, whose coat of arms appears on one of the capitals. The capitals were bought in London in 1878 from Robinson himself, who had "selected all the fine specimens" of architectural fragments from the Rocca and offered them to the Museum. In 1887 he presented another seventeen to the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery.
Lit. Robinson, 182b, pp. x-xi; Pope Hennessy, 1964,pp.301-8;Adams,1993
PETA MOTTURE
Raggio, Olga. 'Catalogue of Italian Sculpture in the Victoria and Albert Museum' Art Bulletin vol.L, 1968.
List of Objects in the Art Division, South Kensington Museum acquired in the Year 1878. London, 1879, p. 35
Pope-Hennessy, John. Catalogue of Italian Sculpture in the Victoria and Albert Museum. London: Her Majesty's Stationary Office, 1964, pp. 304
Adams, Nicholas and Krasinski, Jennifer. 'La rocca roveresca di Mondolfo' in Fiore and Tafuri ed. Francesco di Giorgio architetto. Milan: Electa, 1993.
Exhibition History
A Grand Design - The Art of the Victoria and Albert Museum (Victoria and Albert Museum 14/10/1999-16/01/2000)
Associated names
Robinson, John Charles (Sir)
Production Note
From the Rocca Roveresca di Mondolfo (destroyed 1864-1895) near Sinigallia in the Marches, central Italy.
Materials
Istrian stone
Categories
Architecture; Architectural fittings
Collection code
SCP
