Portrait Bust of a Venetian Gentleman

Artist Danese Cattaneo (Italian (Venice), ca. 1510-1572)

Place of OriginItaly, Venice

Dateabout 1547-1560

Dimensions22 1/8 x 18 1/8 x 11 3/8 in. (56.2 x 46 x 28.9 cm)

Mediumbronze

ClassificationSculpture

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1995.11

Not on View

Label TextWriting in 1568, artist and biographer Giorgio Vasari said of Venetian sculptor Danese Cattaneo that he is “not only an excellent sculptor, but also a good and much extolled poet as his works clearly demonstrate, on which account he has always had association and sound friendship with the greatest men and choicest spirits of our age.” We do not know whether the gentleman depicted here, perhaps a scholar, is one of “the greatest men” or “choicest spirits”—his identity is unknown—but Cattaneo gives him a sense of somber presence. His downward glance marks him as a forceful, intelligent personality rendered in a moment of profound introspection.Published References

"Principales acquisitions des musées en 1995," Gazette des Beaux-Arts, vol. 127, no. 127, no. 1526, March 1996, repr. p. 59.

"Calendar," Burlington, vol. 138, no. 1125, Dec. 1996, repr. p. 856.

"A Selection of Outstanding Acquisitions," Apollo, vol. 144, no. 418, Dec. 1996, repr. p. 17.

Kaufman, Jason E., "A Selection of 1996 US Museums Acquisitions," Art Newspaper, vol. 8, no. 67, Feb. 1997, p. 15, repr. p. 12.

Rossi, Massimiliano, "Danese Cataneo (Colonnata, 1510 ca.- Padova, 1572)," in La bellissima maniera: Alessandro Vittoria e la scultura veneta del Cinquecento, Trento (Castello del Buonconsiglio), 1999, p. 242 (not in exhibition).

Berkowitz, Roger M., "Selected Acquisitions Made by the Toledo Museum of Art, 1990-2001," Burlington, vol. 143, no. 1177, April, 2001, p. 258, fig. V (col.).

Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo Museum of Art Masterworks, Toledo, 2009, p. 138, repr. (col.).