Portrait Bust of a Venetian Gentleman
Artist: Danese Cattaneo (Italian (Venice), ca. 1510-1572)
Date: about 1547-1560
Dimensions:
22 1/8 x 18 1/8 x 11 3/8 in. (56.2 x 46 x 28.9 cm)
Medium: bronze
Classification: Sculpture
Credit Line: Purchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey
Object number: 1995.11
Label Text:Writing 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.
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.
Not on view
In Collection(s)