Day 175 - Northern Italian sculpture

August 12, 2019

Gallery 504 features seven Venetian and other northern Italian sculptures dating from 1425-1525.  I learn, that, in fact,  the most prominent sculptors came to Venice from Lombardy. The works on display generally depict religious subjects - Adam, Saint Catherine of Siena, angels, etc. - but they are done in classical style, with marked contrapposto, elaborate drapery, etc. 

I read that the Adam, who is shown holding an apple and nude except for a fig leaf, is the most important Venetian sculpture outside of Venice. It came from the tomb of a Vendramin doge and was part of a larger arrangement of sculptures. How did it get separated from its companion pieces, I wonder, and where are the latter?   What I don't read but hear from two guides who pass by is that the sculpture toppled from its original wooden pedestal in 2002 and broke into 28 major pieces and hundreds of small fragments! The restoration project took over a decade and is remarkably successful - while I didn't look that closely, I didn't see any seams. 

Today's work is a three-quarters view relief of a Madonna e Bambino sculpted by Pietro Lombardo around 1495 of Istrian stone (which, I learn, is comparable in hardness to marble). Including the decorative band of vegetation  at the bottom, the piece is about 40 inches high and 20 inches wide and was commissioned for a private chapel in the home of a wealthy Venetian. What particularly strikes me is the contrast between the tightly modeled creases of the Madonna's mantle, especially where it covers her arm, and the soft curves that define the dimpled knuckles of her hands  as well as the baby Jesus' cheeks and chubby legs. The Virgin is wearing a wimple whose stiff surfaces also stand out against the soft flesh of her face. The child is shown with his  eyes closed, as if caught in a moment of sleep; his mother's eyes are cast down. It's a peaceful image but not a joyful one. Perhaps the Virgin is already thinking about the Passion to come.