Andrea Bregno

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Andrea Bregno , also Andrea da Milano, (* 1418 in Osteno on Lake Lugano, † 1503 in Rome ) was one of the most important Italian sculptors in the late 15th century of the early Renaissance in Rome. He and his workshop created numerous altars , tombs for cardinals and bishops, tabernacles and architectural decorations for churches and palaces, which stylistically took up the ancient language of forms and ornamentation. Bregno owned an outstanding collection of antiquities. Some of these are in the Vatican Museums.

Life

Perugino: key collection; Portraits of Andrea Bregno and Baccio Pontelli
Tomb of Andrea Bregno in Santa Maria sopra Minerva, Rome

Andrea Bregno was born in 1418 as the son of Cristoforo de Bregnis da Righeggia in Osteno on Lake Lugano, in the Duchy of Milan. The profession of Andrea Bregno's father is not known, he was probably a stone cutter, stone mason or sculptor. His brothers Girolamo (died after 1504) and Ambrogio (died before 1503) as well as their sons Cristoforo and Giovanni Antonio (1503/1504 in Ferrara verifiably) practiced the same craft. Little is known about his training and his artistic career before his time in Rome. He must have been trained in the Lombard art school that produced Antonio Rizzo , who achieved fame in Venice . Bregno went to Rome for years through places of work in Tuscany and Umbria. There is a testimony of its appearance: Pietro Perugino shows on his fresco The Handing Over of the Keys in the Sistine Chapel to important personalities of his time; below on the right the architect of the chapel Baccio Pontelli with angle and its finisher Andrea Bregno with compass.

Andrea Bregno arrived in Rome in the 60s of the Quattrocento. The first works ascribed to him are the grave epitaph of Cardinal Nikolaus von Cues (around 1464/65) in the Church of San Pietro in Vincoli , as well as the tomb of the French Cardinal Louis d'Albret (around 1465) in the Church of Santa Maria in Aracoeli . From the 80s of the 15th century at the latest, his workshop was located at the foot of Monte Cavallo ( Quirinal ), which is why he also appears as Maestro di Montecavallo . It is not clear whether this workshop is the one taken over by Paolo Romano .

Under Pope Sixtus IV , he and his workshop became one of the most sought-after sculptors in Rome. Close business relationships are also likely to have existed with the Spanish clergy, such as the works for Spanish bishops and cardinals - including Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia, who later became Pope Alexander VI. and his partner Vannozza Cattanei - prove. Monumental tombs, which testify to extraordinary craftsmanship, were his trademark. In addition, he made tabernacles and smaller retables for numerous clients and churches.

It can also be traced back to the buildings in Rome that were important for its time: in the church of Santa Maria del Popolo the high altar (today in the sacristy) and some outstanding tombs for cardinals come from his workshop; In the Palazzo della Cancelleria , the first Renaissance-style residence in Rome, built by Cardinal Raffaele Riario, he can be shown to have created the artfully crafted window aedicules and a marble bay window. In the inscription on the high altar of Santa Maria del Popolo, Andrea Bregno laments the death of his son Antonio, who is eight years old. He became a father at the age of 47 or 48; nothing is known of any other descendants.

In the years 1481 to 1486 he can be found in Siena, where he created the Piccolomini altar in the cathedral on behalf of Cardinal Francesco Todeschini-Piccolomini . This is considered one of his main works. There is evidence that he stayed in Viterbo in 1490. The fact that the aging Bregno was in closer contact with the young Michelangelo during his first stay in Rome (1496–1501) is proven solely by the fact that Michelangelo took on the commission in 1501 to complete the Piccolomini altar in the cathedral of Siena Make statues. Bregno died in Rome in 1503 at the age of eighty-five, wealthy and in high regard. From the will that he received, it can be seen that he owned extensive land and real estate, which he bequeathed to his wife Catherina, among others. Whether and to what extent there were family relationships with the Venetian sculptors Antonio Bregno and Paolo Bregno has not been researched.

In 1506, his widow and executor Bartholomäus Bollis, who wrote the inscription , had a wall tomb erected for him in the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva . It is one of the few testimonies to an artist's tomb in Italy at that time. At the same time, it establishes a new, future form of burial that is representative of the bourgeoisie: a wall tomb with a niche portrait and antique elements. As the testamentary documents show, Bregno designed the tomb for himself. The execution is attributed to Luigi Capponi . The inscription describes him as a highly famous sculptor, comparable to Polyklet and as the one who brought the forgotten ars celandi back into use. His age is given as 85 years, 5 months and 6 days. What is remarkable and very rare for the time is the depiction of the profession-specific hand tools - compasses, angles and plumb bobs of the stone sculptors and architects. Models can be found in ancient Roman tombstones and only on the grave slab of the artist Giotto in Florence Cathedral.

Works

The large number of marble works ascribed to Andrea Bregno is offset by a blatant lack of reliable information and archival material as to authorship. Andrea Bregno's work is more complex and difficult to assess than that of other artists working in Rome at the same time. He seems to have run a workshop with assistants of different handwriting and also to have found numerous previously anonymous imitators . Bregno was also often seen as a major entrepreneur: a large part of the orders for sculptures, grave monuments, altars, tabernacles and architectural sculptures in the second half of the 15th century were in the hands of the workshop of Andrea Bregno, the stonemason from Osteno . In Rome, where most of his works can be found, there is only one marked as his. From a design drawing attributed to Andrea Bregno for the high altar of the Church of San Lorenzo in Damaso , it is concluded that Bregno designed his works himself. Depending on the source, individual works are attributed to Andrea Bregno himself, his school, his workshop, imitators or him, together with artists such as Mino da Fiesole , Giovanni Dalmata or Luigi Capponi who worked temporarily in Rome . In many cases, works are assigned a term “Bregno circle” that is not precisely defined.

Funerary monuments and epitaphs

Grave monument for Cardinal Louis D'Albret
Grave monument for Cardinal Cristoforo della Rovere

In the second half of the 15th century, the Andrea Bregno company had almost a monopoly on the production of funerary monuments for high ecclesiastical dignitaries in numerous churches in Rome. Most of these monuments were not executed by Master Andrea alone, but based on his designs together with colleagues from his workshop, including Giovanni de Larigo, but also in collaboration with a number of well-known sculptors who were temporarily active in Rome. An exact allocation and dating (the years listed below are all the years of death of the sitter) is possible in most cases only on the basis of stylistic criteria due to lack of documentation. The fact that some monuments only date after Bregno's death (1403) suggests that Bregno's workshop continued to be run by his partner Giovanni da Larigo and / or Luigi Capponi after his death.

Altars and altar parts

In addition to grave monuments for high ecclesiastical dignitaries, Andrea Bregno and his workshop were commissioned to produce several altars and altarpieces. Some of these works can be ascribed to the master with certainty as the author based on the signature or received documents:

  • Altar retable (Borgia Altar) Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome

  • Santa Maria della Quercia, altarpiece

  • Piccolomini Altar in Siena Cathedral

Parts of altars commissioned by Guillaume de Perrier

Altar part; Sant'Agnese, Rome. St. Stephen and St. Laurentius

The dean of the Roman Rota , the French '' 'Guillaume de Perriers' '' commissioned several altarpieces for various basilicas in Rome from Andrea Bregno between 1490 and 1498. Only individual parts of these works are preserved in Roman churches and in several museums:

  • Part of an altarpiece for the Basilica of San Lorenzo fuori le Mura Saints Stephen and Laurentius now in the church of Sant'Agnese fuori le mura, right aisle (1490)
  • Part of an altarpiece for St. Peter's Church in Constantine, Rome St. Andrew now in the Metropolitan Museum NY
  • Parts of an altarpiece for St. Peter's Church in Constantine, Rome. The apostles Peter and Paul now in the church of San Pietro Ispano, Boville Ernica.
  • Part of an altarpiece in the Capella di Santa Rufina of the Baptistery of the Church of San Giovanni in Laterano, Rome. (1492) Relief of the crucifixion
  • Parts of an altarpiece for the Basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano, Rome. (1492) John the Baptist and John the Evangelist now in the Lapidarium (cloister) of the Lateran Church . Jacobus the Elder now in the right aisle of the Lateran Church (in collaboration with Luigi Capponi?).
  • Part of an altarpiece for the Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome. (1497) Triptych Augustinus, Maria, Caterina now in the corridor to the sacristy.
  • Parts of an altarpiece for the Basilica of San Paolo Fuori le Mura, Rome. (1494) Saints Paul, Peter and Bartholomäus now in the Cappella dei Capitolari.
  • Parts of an altarpiece for the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome. (1498) Saints Jerome, Bernhard and Maria now in the small sacristy of the church (in collaboration with Luigi Caponni?).
  • Parts of an altarpiece for an unknown location. John the Baptist and Saint Jerome now in the Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen
  • Parts of an altarpiece for the Basilica of Santi XII Apostoli , Rome. Saints James the Elder and Philip now in the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City.

tabernacle

Tabernacle for San Giacomo degli Spagnoli, now Santa Maria in Monserrato, Rome

The tabernacles ascribed to the Bregno circle, but mostly executed by Mino da Fiesole and / or Giovanni Dalmata, were originally sacramental tabernacles.

  • Tabernacle in the Church of Santa Maria in Monserrato degli Spagnoli , Rome. This tabernacle was originally the sacramental tabernacle in the Church of San Giacomo degli Spagnoli in Piazza Navona. After this church was closed in 1807, this tabernacle was moved to the Spanish national church of Santa Maria in Monserrato (first chapel on the left).
  • Tabernacle intended for the Cappella Santa Lucia in the Church of Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome was by Vannozza Cattanei , the life partner of Pope Alexander VI. commissioned from Andrea Bregno and Giovanni de Larigo based on the pattern of the tabernacle in San Giacomo degli Spagnoli. For a long time it was considered lost; but was rediscovered in the sculpture collection of the State Museums in Berlin .
  • Tabernacle ; Santi Quattro Coronati , Rome (left on the triumphal arch) Andrea Bregno, Capponi
  • Tabernacle of the sacrament ; San Marco, Rome (sacristy). Inscriptions: PANEM ANGELORVM MANDVCA, OLEVM SACRVM. Mino da Fiesole with Giovanni Dalmata
  • Tabernacle ; Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere, Rome (nave on the right in the back). OLEA SANCTA, OPVS MINI Mino da Fiesole

Architecture and building decor

Palazzo della Cancelleria, Rome. Bay window

Lombard stonemasons, who were called to Rome around the middle of the 15th century, were mostly tasked with the production of architectural decorations for the great Roman churches and palaces. It cannot be proven whether Andrea Bregno also worked as an architect. Sixtus IV has appointed Baccio Pontelli as architect and Andrea Bregno as esecutore (finisher) for many of his building contracts , for example in the Sistine Chapel. Andrea Bregno's name is also mentioned on the facades of the churches of Santa Maria del Popolo and San Pietro in Montorio . When the Palazzo della Cancelleria is completed , he appears as esecutore .

Art-historical classification

Bregno is one of the most important masters of early Renaissance sculpture, alongside Luigi Capponi , Giovanni Dalmata , Mino da Fiesole , Andrea di Francesco Guardi , Isaia da Pisa , Paolo Romano and others. He was the master of the tomb type preferred at the time in Rome: a marble sarcophagus set into the wall with a reclining figure of the deceased in the center, surrounded by typical Renaissance ornamentation and a program of sculptures. His formal language was largely determined by models from antiquity, the shape of the tomb as a triumphal arch became his trademark. In a strange calendar coincidence, Bregno witnessed and shaped the rebirth of post-ancient Rome and the beginning and the end of the early Renaissance in this city; yes, in the course of his long, busy life he became the most important exponent and at the same time the finisher of Roman Quattrocento sculpture. Its origin is revealed in the slender figures and the delicate folds; but he owes the noble heads and the elegant demeanor of his figures to the study of antiquity in Rome, with which, of course, he also shares the lack of finer animation and individuality. Bregno probably found a concrete model in the wall niche grave built by Bernardo Rossellino for Leonardo Bruni in Florence around 1444, which is regarded as a style-defining feature for the Renaissance.

The characterization of Bregno on the occasion of a symposium in 1992: The patriarch of the Lombard School in Rome - still alive and very old and important entrepreneur - was able to prescribe design standards for the young genius (Michelangelo, note) on paper ... his role and importance came in his time probably the next. In the Eternal City he did not appear as an experienced, mature master until he was more than 50 years old, had influential contacts, as his important clients prove, and brought with him an individually shaped, technically and artistically highly developed style. A number of sources indicate the main tasks he performed in his workshop:

  • Vasari writes in the Life of Bramante on the Palazzo della Cancelleria ... it was the finisher an Antonio Monte Cavallo.
  • Giovanni Santi, Raffael Santi's father, describes him as:… si gran componitore… (= such great designer )
  • The inscription on the Borgia altar in the church of Santa Maria del Popolo reads:… HOC OPUS COMPONIT… (= designed this work)
  • In the church of San Agostino in Campo Marzio, when describing the grave monument for Costanza Ammanati (mother of Jacopo Ammanati-Piccolomini), the attribution to Andrea Bregno is referred to as paternità (= paternity), which was carried out by his employees.

Under Pope Julius II (1503) a new chapter in church and art history began in Rome. With the works of well-known artists of the time such as Donato Bramante , Andrea Sansovino , but especially through the work of Michelangelo , the style of the Lombard artist from the Quattrocento suddenly appeared outdated and antiquated. He was soon forgotten; in the artist vitae of Giorgio Vasari he is mentioned in the vita of Donato Bramante as the maker of the Palazzo della Cancelleria Antonio (instead of Andrea) Montecavallo .

It was not until the 19th century, through research into early Renaissance sculpture, which was essentially based on August Schmarsow , that Andrea Bregno found attention again and found his place in art history.

literature

  • Giovanni Mariacher:  Bregno, Andrea. In: Alberto M. Ghisalberti (Ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). Volume 14:  Branchi-Buffetti. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 1972.
  • August Schmarsow: Master Andrea. In: Yearbook of the Royal Prussian Art Collections. 4th vol. (1883), National Museums in Berlin - Prussian Cultural Heritage, pp. 18–31.
  • D. Gnoli: Luigi Capponi da Milano - scultore. Archivio storico dell'Arte - Anno VI, Fasc. II. (1893)
  • Ernst Steinmann: Andrea Bregno's activity in Rome. In: Yearbook of the Royal Prussian Art Collections. 20th vol. (1899), National Museums in Berlin - Prussian Cultural Heritage, pp. 216–232.
  • Thomas Pöpper : Sculptures for the Papacy. Life and work of Andrea Bregno. Plöttner Verlag , Leipzig 2010, ISBN 978-3-938442-86-9 .
  • Thomas Pöpper: "... una certa opera di marmoro che vulgare se chiama tabernaculo". On two identified Roman tabernacles of the sacraments: in addition to an excursus on Andrea Bregno, Giovanni de Larigo and the window aedicules of the Palazzo Raffaele Riario (La Cancelleria) in Rome. In: Yearbook of the Berlin museums. 45th vol. (2003), Staatliche Museen zu Berlin - Preußischer Kulturbesitz, pp. 39–63.
  • Thomas Pöpper: Family tree with ancestor - or: stirps as a metaphor to a fragment in the Berlin sculpture collection. In: Yearbook of the Berlin museums. 47th vol. (2005), Staatliche Museen zu Berlin - Preußischer Kulturbesitz, pp. 139–148.
  • Michael Kühlenthal: Andrea Bregno in Rome. In: Roman yearbook of the Bibliotheca Hertziana . 32 (1997/98)
  • Emilio Lavagnino: Andrea Bregno e la sua bottega. In: L'Arte. 27 (1924), pp. 247-263.
  • Marco Bussagli: Rome, Art & Architecture. Krönemann Verlag, Cologne 1999, ISBN 3-8290-2258-1 .
  • Lexicon of Art. Karl Müller Verlag, Erlangen 1994, ISBN 3-86070-452-4 .
  • Wilhelm Bode: The Italian sculpture. Walter de Gruyter, Handbooks of the Berlin State Museums, 1911.
  • Arne Karsten, Philipp Zitzlsperger: From the afterlife of the cardinals; Roman cardinal tombs of the early modern period. Gebr. Mann Verlag, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-7861-2607-2 .
  • Giovanni Agosti: Michelangelo ei Lombardi, a Roma, attorno al 1500. (= Studies in the History of Art. Vol. 33). Symposium Papers XVII, Michelangelo Drawings (1992), National Gallery of Art, pp. 18-36.
  • Francesco Caglioti: Sui primi tempi romani d'Andrea Bregno: un progetto per il cardinale camerlengo AlviseTrevisan e un San Michele Arcangelo per il cardinale Juan de Carvajal. Communications from the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz , vol. 41, volume 3 (1997), Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz, Max Planck Institute, pp. 213-253.
  • Johannes Röll: Giovanni Dalmata. (= Roman studies of the Biblioteca Hertziana 10). Wernersche Verlagsgesellschaft, 1994, ISBN 3-88462-108-4 .
  • JB: A statue by Andrea Bregno. In: The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin. Vol. 7, No. 9 (Sep. 1912), The Metropolitan Museum of Art, pp. 165-167.
  • Gesa Schütz-Rautenberg: artist tombs of the 15th and 16th centuries in Italy. Böhlau Verlag, Cologne / Vienna 1978.
  • Claudio Strinati: Donatello, Andrea Bregno e Michelangelo. La Forma del Rinascimento, Rubinetto, 2010, p. 21ff.
  • Claudio Crescentini: Donatello, Andrea Bregno e Michelangelo. La Forma del Rinascimento, Rubinetto, 2010, p. 27ff.
  • Marcello Fagiolo: Intorno a Bregno, Pontelli e Bramante (e Michelangelo): Il Palazzo della Cancelleria come Porta-Fortezza-Città e la sua "risoluzione". La Forma del Rinascimento, Rubinetto, 2010, pp. 101ff.
  • Guida d'Italia Roma. Touring Club Italiano, 2006, ISBN 88-365-4134-8 .

Web links

Commons : Andrea Bregno  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ according to the inscription of his tomb in Santa Maria sopra Minerva
  2. ↑ Thomas Pöpper: Sculptures for the Papacy , p. 43.
  3. ↑ Thomas Pöpper: Sculptures for the Papacy , p. 43.
  4. ↑ Lavagnino, page 249
  5. ↑ Lavagnino, p. 249
  6. ↑ DV ANDREAS HOC OPUS COMPONIT MA (n) TONII DILECTI PARCA REPETI INDLVIT CVSTODVM IN / CVRIA MORITVR QVI VIX (it) ANN (os) VII M (enses) VIIII D (ies) XXIIII HOR (as) X MCCCCLXXIII DIS XVIII OCTOBR
  7. ↑ G. Schütz-Rautenberg: artist graves of the 15th and 16th centuries in Italy , p. 67 f.
  8. ↑ Pöpper: sculptures for the papacy , S. 274 et seq.
  9. ↑ DOM ANDREAE BREGNO EX OSTEN AGRI COMENS / STATVARIO CELEBERIMO COGNOMENTO / POLYCLETO QVI PRIMVS CELANDI ARTEM / ABOLITAM AD EXEMPLAR MAYOR IN VSVM / EXERCITATIONEMQ REVOCAVIT / VIX D.V LXXXV MV
  10. ↑ ars celandi artem : the art of hiding the craft behind the artistic expression
  11. ↑ Kühlenthal
  12. ↑ Giovanni Agosti: `` Michelangelo ei Lombardi, a Roma ''
  13. ↑ the altarpiece in Santa Maria del Popolo
  14. ↑ Francesco Caglioti
  15. ↑ Inscription on the tabula ansata: QVI IACET ANTE TVAS NICOLAVS PETRE CATHENAS / HOC OPVS EREXIT CETERA MARMOR HABET / MCCCCLXV. Inscription on the grave slab: '' Nicolaus von Kusa from Trier, Cardinal of San Pietro in Vincoli, Bishop of Brixen died in Todi on August 11, 1465. He was 63 years old. '' '
  16. ↑ Inscription: IVNCTA LIONARDO CONIVNX LUCHINA QVIESCIT, FILIVS SIXTVS PAPA SEPULCRA DEDIT
  17. ↑ Tobias Güthner: Florentine merchants and bankers in Rome . Dissertation at the Faculty of History and Art Studies at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich 2010. Pages 120 ff.
  18. ↑ Inscription on the sarcophagus: VT MORIENS VIVERET / VIXIT VT MORITVRVS
  19. ^ Sui primi tempi Romani d'Andrea Bregno
  20. ↑ Inscription: FRANPICCOLOM CAR SENEN PII II PONT MAX NEPOS
  21. ↑ Inscription on the reverse: OPUS ANDREAE MEDIOLANENSIS
  22. ↑ Pöpper, p. 107 ff.
  23. ^ ROMA, Guida d'Italia TCI, p. 289.
  24. ↑ Note: the inscription on the tabernacle in San Marco Eat the angels' bread . Only then were they converted into storage places for the sacred oils
  25. ↑ … la spectabile dona Vanotia de Catani, à locato… (un) tabernaculo a maistro Andrea de Monte Caballo… da fare nel modo et forma che ne sta uno simile nela glesia de Santo Iacobo di Spagnoli…
  26. ↑ Thomas Pöpper ``… una certa opera di marmoro che vulgare se chiama tabernaculo '': On two identified Roman tabernacles of the sacrament: along with an excursus on Andrea Bregno, Giovanni de Larigo and the window aedicules of the Palazzo Raffaele Riario (La Cancelleria) in Rome ; Yearbook of the Berlin Museums, 45th volume (2003)
  27. ↑ Thomas Pöpper ``… una certa opera di marmoro che vulgare se chiama tabernaculo '': On two identified Roman tabernacles of the sacrament: together with an excursus on Andrea Bregno, Giovanni de Larigo and the window aedicules of the Palazzo Raffaele Riario (La Cancelleria) in Rome; Yearbook of the Berlin Museums, 45th volume (2003)
  28. ↑ Thomas Pöpper: Sculptures for the Papacy, p. 44.
  29. ^ Wilhelm Bode: The Italian sculpture
  30. ↑ Giovanni Agosti: Michelangelo ei Lombardi, a Roma, attorno al 1500, Studies in the History of Art, Vol. 33, Symposium Papers XVII: Michelangelo Drawings (1992), pp. 18-36.
  31. ↑ ... e di questa fabbrica fu esecutore un Antonio Monte Cavallo (... and exporter of this building was a Antonio Monte Cavallo)
personal data
SURNAME Bregno, Andrea
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Andrea di Montecavallo; Maestro Andrea
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian sculptor
DATE OF BIRTH 1418
PLACE OF BIRTH Claino con Osteno
DATE OF DEATH 1503
Place of death Rome