Marble relief depicting Valerio Belli, Italy (Vicenza), ca. 1530-1540

Relief in marble depicting Valerio Belli in profile facing left. He has a full pointed beard and curling hair, and wears a cloak over his robe. The portrait terminates at the base beneath the shoulder. Broken diagonally across the upper right corner and repaired.

Purchased in London from Mrs. Noel in 1932. Previously in the possession of Charles Robert Cockerell.

This may be the same relief as the one recorded in the Gualdo collection at Vicenza in the description of the collection from 1644 and 1650, later published by B. Morsolin. A marble relief of Belli is later reported in the Trevisanum Museum in Venice. Although Maclagan and Longhurst dismiss the attribution to Michaelangelo recorded in the early documents, they believe it is possible that the relief found its way to Venice at the dispersal of the Gualdo collection. Pope-Hennessy believed that the present bust definitely related to a number of profile portraits of Belli, which appear to derive from a drawing of uncertain authorship in the Koenigs collection of the Boymans Museum, Rotterdam. This drawing, formerly in the possession of Giorgio Vasari, was the source of inspiration for a woodcut published in the second edition of his Lives of the Artists. The drawing has been ascribed to various artists including Michaelangelo, Bernardino Luini and an unidentified Florentine artist. A medallic portrait of Belli is also connected with the drawing, though the collar is rendered differently and the treatment of the hair less free. The present relief is considered by Pope-Hennessy to be in Florentine, rather than Northern Italian style and it was probably for this reason that it was verbally ascribed to Ammanati. Pope-Hennesy notes that the rendering of the dress and of the collar (which do not recur in the drawing or the medal) make this attribution more likely. Born in Vicenza, in about 1468 Valerio Belli was a gem-engraver, goldsmith and medallist who spent the decisive years of his career in Rome, where he worked for Clement VII and his successor Paul III. He spent a short period in Venice, subsequently returning to Vicenza in 1530 until his death. In Rome he was a well known in artistic and literary circles, associating, for example, with Michelangelo. No examples of his work as a goldsmith survive, but he is called ‘aurifex’ in contemporary documents and may have made the settings for his carved gems. Belli specialized in cutting gems and crystal and in carving dies for coins and medals. His style followed that of his contemporaries working in the fine arts and was influenced by his study of ancient coins and gems. His best-known works are those made for his papal patrons, many consisting of, or incorporating carvings in rock crystal or semiprecious stones. The most splendid of these is a silver-gilt casket adorned with 24 carvings in crystal showing scenes from the Passion (1532; Florence), for which, according to Vasari, he received the large sum of 2000 gold scudi. Some of Belli’s engraved crystals, such as those in the Museo Civico d’Arte e Storia, Vicenza, have been separated from the works that they once adorned. Bronze plaquettes after Belli’s works (e.g. in the collection of the V&A, London and the National Gallery of Art, Washington DC) were produced by taking plaster or sulphur casts. Plaquettes or casts of this kind are helpful in suggesting the form of lost works, such as the missing engraved crystals from a Crucifix (V&A no. 755-1864), one of Belli's last commissions from Clement VII.

The relief is dated by Maclagan and Longhurst to about 1520, however Pope-Hennessy considers it to be later in date - towards the end of Belli's life or even after his death in 1546.

The name of the sculptor of this portrait of Valerio Belli is not known. It has been speculated that it is a self-portrait, but this is unlikely, as Belli is not known to have produced marble sculptures.
Belli (around 1468-1546) was a famous engraver of hardstones and gems, in particular rock crystal. He worked at the papal court in Rome under two successive popes and also in Vicenza, his native city. Among his masterpieces is a casket made for Pope Clement VII in 1537 and composed of 24 scenes from the life of Christ engraved on rock-crystal plaques. The art of engraving gemstones, much admired since the early days of the Roman Empire, was revived in Europe during the Renaissance. Enthusiasts prized and collected cameos (in which the image stands proud of the surface) and intaglios (in which the image is hollowed out of the surface). These pieces sometimes served as symbols of power and were mounted in jewelled settings, and sometimes as small objects for private devotion or enjoyment.

A.4-1932