Michelangelo and Rustici - Paul Joannides

Duration: 28 mins 28 secs

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Description:	My paper will begin with a few words about the unique bronze Hercules Pomarius in the Victoria and Albert Museum, which I attributed to Michelangelo many years ago, and recalling my long-held view that the Resting Hercules - of which bronze casts are in the V&A and elsewhere - records Michelangelo’s lost marble Hercules, once at Fontainebleau. Attention will then shift to certain aspects of Michelangelo’s artistic relations with his exact contemporary and friend, Gianfrancesco Rustici, particularly as these relate to the medium of bronze. It will be argued that Rustici’s famous group of the Baptist Preaching between a Levite and a Pharisee (1506-09), traditionally thought of as Leonardesque, is also deeply indebted to ideas originating with Michelangelo, especially in the poses and gestures of the Levite and Pharisee; and, for comparison, there will be a sidelong glance at some early sculptures in wood by Alonso Berruguete, in which Michelangelo’s influence is fused with that of Rustici. My paper will conclude with a discussion of the large bronze of Apollo and the Python in the Louvre, generally attributed to Rustici and dated to the 1530s. This date will be examined and interrogated, and an attempt will be made to relate the figure in theme and detail to various of Michelangelo’s preoccupations, as seen both in his sculptures and his drawings.

Description:

My paper will begin with a few words about the unique bronze Hercules Pomarius in the Victoria and Albert Museum, which I attributed to Michelangelo many years ago, and recalling my long-held view that the Resting Hercules - of which bronze casts are in the V&A and elsewhere - records Michelangelo’s lost marble Hercules, once at Fontainebleau. Attention will then shift to certain aspects of Michelangelo’s artistic relations with his exact contemporary and friend, Gianfrancesco Rustici, particularly as these relate to the medium of bronze. It will be argued that Rustici’s famous group of the Baptist Preaching between a Levite and a Pharisee (1506-09), traditionally thought of as Leonardesque, is also deeply indebted to ideas originating with Michelangelo, especially in the poses and gestures of the Levite and Pharisee; and, for comparison, there will be a sidelong glance at some early sculptures in wood by Alonso Berruguete, in which Michelangelo’s influence is fused with that of Rustici. My paper will conclude with a discussion of the large bronze of Apollo and the Python in the Louvre, generally attributed to Rustici and dated to the 1530s. This date will be examined and interrogated, and an attempt will be made to relate the figure in theme and detail to various of Michelangelo’s preoccupations, as seen both in his sculptures and his drawings.


Created:	2016-08-08 12:32
Collection:	A Michelangelo Discovery Symposium - Monday 6 July
Publisher:	Fitzwilliam Museum
Copyright:	Fitzwilliam Museum
Language:	eng (English)

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