Andrea del Verrocchio

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Bartolomeo Colleoni, bronze statue by Andrea del Verrocchio, 1483 – 88; in Campo di … (credit: Brogi — Alinari/Art Resource, New York)

(born 1435, Florence — died 1488, Venice) Italian sculptor and painter. Little is certain about his early life. His most important works were executed in his final two decades under the patronage of the Medici in his native Florence. His reputation as a master spread early, and many well-known artists studied at his studio, including Leonardo da Vinci and Perugino; the young Leonardo probably painted an angel and part of the distant landscape in Verrocchio's Baptism of Christ (c. 1470). Verrocchio's reputation as one of the great relief sculptors of the Renaissance was established with his cenotaph in the cathedral at Pistoia; while it remained unfinished at his death and was later changed by others, the relief's arrangement of figures into a dramatically unified composition anticipates the Baroque sculpture of the 17th century. His bronze statue of the military officer Bartolomeo Colleoni (commissioned 1483, erected in Venice 1496) is one of the greatest equestrian statues of the Renaissance.

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(b Florence, 1435; d Venice, ?30 June 1488). Italian sculptor, painter, draughtsman and goldsmith. He was the leading sculptor in Florence in the second half of the 15th century, and his highly successful workshop, in which Leonardo da Vinci trained, had a far-reaching impact on younger generations. A wide range of patrons, including the Medici family, the Venetian State and the city council of Pistoia, commissioned works from him. Exceptionally versatile, Verrocchio was talented both as a sculptor

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The Italian sculptor and painter Andrea del Verrocchio (1435-1488) created some of the most powerful monumental bronze sculptures of the Renaissance.

Andrea del Verrocchio was born in Florence, the son of a brick and tile maker. Nothing is known about his early training. In 1465 the magistrates of the merchants' guild of Florence commissioned him to execute a bronze Doubting of Thomas to occupy a marble niche earlier executed by Donatello and Michelozzo for the principal facade of Orsanmichele in Florence. When the group was finally placed in its niche in 1483, the diarist L. Landucci called the head of Christ "the most beautiful head of the Saviour that has yet been made." The Doubting of Thomas is one of the most important sculpture groups of the entire Renaissance. It is a dramatic masterpiece of spatial arrangement between two high-relief, life-size figures (the statues are actually hollow shells of bronze, without backs) and an exquisitely ornamented Renaissance niche.

The Medici family commissioned a number of works from Verrocchio. In 1467 Cosimo de' Medici was buried in a tomb that had been commissioned from Verrocchio two years earlier. In 1471 he completed the tomb for Giovanni and Piero de' Medici in the old sacristy of the family church of S. Lorenzo in Florence. The rich marble, porphyry, and bronze sarcophagus is framed by a marble arch and backed by a bronze grille in the form of interlaced ropes; it is one of the most original creations of the period. An early masterpiece in bronze, David, a pensive, boyish figure in leather jerkin and skirt, triumphant over Goliath, was commissioned by Lorenzo de' Medici for his villa at Careggi. He sold the David to the Signory of Florence in 1476. Other Medici commissions completed by Verrocchio are listed in an inventory of 1496, including a bust of Giuliano in terra-cotta.

Verrocchio's most notable painting is the Baptism of Christ. During the execution of the painting, about 1470, Verrocchio allowed his young pupil Leonardo da Vinci to paint the head of the first of two angels who kneel at the left and also the spectacular landscape vista above the angel's head. Four other extant paintings are attributed to Verrocchio.

In 1473 Verrocchio estimated the value of a pulpit by Mino da Fiesole and Antonio Rossellino in the Prato Cathedral. In 1477 Verrocchio competed with Piero Pollaiuolo for the monument of Cardinal Niccolò Forteguerri in Pistoia. Although Pollaiuolo's design was accepted, Lorenzo de' Medici ordered the one by Verrocchio executed. In the same year he presented two models for reliefs for the altar of S. Giovanni in the Baptistery of Florence; one, the Beheading of John the Baptist, was accepted and finished in 1480.

Among Verrocchio's marble works is the Bust of a Young Woman, often identified, without proof, as the mistress of Lorenzo de' Medici, Lucrezia Donati. She is clad in a translucent garment and has broad eyebrows and large, beautifully graceful hands. His conception represents the new spirit of naturalism which arose in the 1480s in Florentine sculpture and painting.

Verrocchio's final work is also his grandest: the bronze equestrian monument of Bartolommeo Colleoni in Campo SS. Giovanni e Paolo, Venice. Colleoni, a condottiere, died in 1475 and left money to the Venetian Republic for the execution of the statue. The commission was awarded in 1479, and the model was executed in Florence; it was sent to Venice two years later. Verrocchio moved to Venice in 1483 and died there five years later before he could cast his clay model in bronze. The casting was begun in 1490 by Alessandro Leopardi, who also designed the base on which the monument was finally set in 1496. Verrocchio abandoned Donatello's static concept of the equestrian monument and presented Colleoni, armed and helmeted, riding his charger into battle. Rarely has a sculptor so effectively depicted the expression of power in a dramatic moment.

Further Reading

The best monograph on Verrocchio in English, with a clear text and splendid photographic details of all the works, is Gunther Passavant, Verrocchio: Sculptures, Paintings and Drawings (1969). A succinct and lucid introduction to the master's sculpture is Charles Seymour, Jr., The Sculpture of Verrocchio (1972).

See Orcagna, Andrea.

This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations where appropriate. (August 2009)

Andrea del Verrocchio
Madonna with Sts John the Baptist and Donatus (1475-83), Cathedral of Pistoia
Birth name	Andrea di Michele di Francesco de' Cioni
Born	c. 1435 Florence, Italy
Died	c. 1488 Venice, Italy
Nationality	Italian
Field	Painting, Sculpture
Movement	Italian Renaissance
Works	The Baptism of Christ Christ and St. Thomas

The Baptism of Christ, 1474-1475, Verrocchio and Leonardo.

Christ and St. Thomas, Orsanmichelle, Florence.

Madonna with Child, c. 1470, Verrocchios's workshop. New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Andrea del Verrocchio, born Andrea di Michele di Francesco de' Cioni, (c. 1435 – 1488) was an Italian sculptor, goldsmith and painter who worked at the court of Lorenzo de' Medici in Florence. His pupils included Leonardo da Vinci, Pietro Perugino and Lorenzo di Credi, but he also influenced Michelangelo. He worked in the serenely classic style of the Florentine Early Renaissance.

Contents 1 Early life and training 2 Independent work 3 Maturity as a sculptor 3.1 Bartolomeo Colleoni 4 Major works 5 External links

Early life and training

Verrocchio was born in Florence in 1435 to Michele di Francesco Cioni, who worked as a tile and brick maker and, later, as a tax collector. Michele never married, and had to provide financial support for some members of his family. Michele's fame rose upon his joining the Medici court, in which he remained until his workshop moved to Venice.

Many believe that Andrea started to work as a goldsmith in the workshop of Giulio Verrocchi, but this is impossible as Giuliano was born in 1447. It is more likely that he was trained by Giuliano's father Francesco di Luca Verrocchio, who was a rich and successful goldsmith and knew Andrea as a youth. The possibility that he apprenticed with Donatello remains unconfirmed. His first efforts in painting date probably from the 1460s, when he worked in Prato alongside Filippo Lippi.

Independent work

The only signed painting by Verrocchio is the Madonna with Child and Saints, in the Cathedral of Pistoia.

Around 1465 he worked at the lavabo of the Old Sacristy in San Lorenzo, Florence. Between 1465 and 1467 he executed the funerary monument to Cosimo de' Medici for the crypt under the altar of the same church, and in 1472 he completed the monument to Piero and Giovanni de' Medici in the Old Sacristy.

In 1466 the Guild of Traders of Florence commissioned from Verrocchio a bronze group entitled Christ and St. Thomas for an external niche of the church of Orsanmichele. The work was placed there in 1483. He devised a composition of two figures, with Christ in the centre of the niche, and the Saint stretched out, in order to avoid a rigid frontal view and to aid the spectator in better identifying the two characters.

In 1468 Verrocchio made a famous candelabra, now in Amsterdam, for a corridor of Florence's Town Hall. In the early 1470s he made a voyage to Rome, while in 1474 he executed the Forteguerri monument for the Cathedral of Pistoia, which he left unfinished.

The Baptism of Christ, now housed in the Uffizi, was painted in 1474-75. In this work Verrocchio was assisted by Leonardo da Vinci, then a youth and a member of his workshop, who finished the background and painted the left angel, excelling in quality the rest of the painting. According to Vasari, Andrea resolved never to touch the brush again because Leonardo, his pupil, had far surpassed him. Later critics, however, consider this story apocryphal.

Maturity as a sculptor

After the mid-1470s Verrocchio was devoted mainly to sculpture, at first following the standard Florentine canons. These are well in evidence in the bronze statue of David, commissioned by Lorenzo and Giuliano de' Medici c. 1476 (now at the Bargello). Verrocchio's David is underage, modestly clad in contrast to Donatello's provocative David, and haughty in his conquest. The Gothic-like, idealistic beauty of the features is closer in spirit to Ghiberti than to the innovative Donatello.

Around 1478 he finished a Winged Cherubim with Dolphin, today housed in Palazzo Vecchio and originally intended for a fountain in the Medici villa of Careggi: this work is influenced by the dynamic naturalism which Verrocchio learned from Desiderio da Settignano. Of the same period are the Dama col mazzolino and the relief for the funerary monument of Francesca Tornabuoni for Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome (now in the Bargello).

Bartolomeo Colleoni

In 1478 Verrocchio began what was to become his most famous work, an equestrian statue of the Condottiero Colleoni, who had died three years before. The work was commissioned by the Republic of Venice. It was the first attempt to produce such a group with one of the horse's legs not touching the base. The statue is also notable for the carefully-observed expression of stern command upon Colleoni's face.

Verrocchio sent to his commissioners a wax model in 1480, and in 1488 he finally moved to Venice to assist at the casting of the group. However, he died in the same year, before the work was finished.

Major works

• The Baptism of Christ (1472-1475) - Oil on wood, 177 x 151 cm, Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence
• Madonna with the Saints John the Baptist and Donatus (1475-1483) - Wood, 189 x 191 cm, Duomo, Pistoia
• Saint Monica - Panel, Santo Spirito, Florence
• Tobias and the Angel (1470-1480) - Egg tempera on poplar, National Gallery, London
• Christ and St. Thomas (1467-1483) - Bronze, Orsanmichele, Florence

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External links

• Andrea del Verrocchio in the "History of Art"
• Andrea Verrocchio biography
• List of sites displaying Verrocchio's work
• Andrea del Verrocchio biography

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