Bust of Marietta Strozzi

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Portrait of Marietta Strozzi ()
Portrait of Marietta Strozzi
Desiderio da Settignano , around 1460
Marble bust,
52.8 cm × 47.8 cm × 23.8 cm
Bode Museum; Sculpture Collection and Museum for Byzantine Art of the State Museums in Berlin - Prussian Cultural Heritage

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The bust of Marietta Strozzi was probably made in marble by the sculptor Desiderio da Settignano in Florence around 1460 . In art historical research, based on a reference to a marble bust in the Vita of Desiderio da Settignano by Giorgio Vasari from 1550/1568, it is assumed that the sculptor Desiderio da Settignano actually made a bust of Marietta Strozzi . However, since there are no documents in the possession of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin about the context in which the bust was created , it is not certain whether the person depicted is really Marietta Strozzi.

description

The almost life-size marble bust reaching to the waist and measuring 52.5 cm × 47.8 cm × 23.8 cm shows an individual and at the same time typified representation of a young woman: the high forehead, the narrow nose and the long neck are Characteristics of the female ideal of beauty prevailing in Florence in the 15th century . At the same time, her gaze from large, half-closed eyes and her lively, slightly twisted and backward-leaning posture identify her as a person with individual features. Her hair is laid in a thick strand of hair loosely looped around her head, which is braided with a fine string of pearls hanging over her forehead and held in place with a thin cloth covering her ears and the back of her head. She wears a simple dress, which is only emphasized by a lacing in front of the chest and a slight pleating at the waist as well as subtle puff sleeves .

Material and technology

The female bust was made from Carrara marble . This is not uncommon, as marble , terracotta and wood busts from the Quattrocento are known.

State of preservation

Overall, the bust is in good condition, but brown discolorations are noticeable on the back of the left sleeve and on the right side of the neck.

Authorship

The lack of any documents on the development context as well as to provenance attributed the bust prompted researchers the work of different artists: the original of a work to the purchase in 1842 Donatello's bust held wrote Wilhelm von Bode due to stylistic features a few years later the sculptor Desiderio da Settignano and the Identity of Marietta Strozzi too. After further female busts associated with Desiderio da Settignano and Marietta Strozzi at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century raised doubts about the authenticity of the Berlin bust, it was made in 1958 because of its high quality Attributed to John Pope-Hennessy Antonio Rossellino . The attribution to Rossellino was only represented by a minority of experts, but can still be found in the research literature today. Most recently, Volker Krahn attributed the bust to Desiderio da Settignano in 2014, as the treatment of the surface and the lifelike representation would correspond to the Marsuppini tomb in Santa Croce in Florence , which is certainly attributed to Desiderio da Settignano .

Dating

If Desiderio da Settignano is said to have made the bust of Marietta Strozzi , this can only have happened between 1461 and 1464 due to the life data of the artist and the sitter. Desiderio died in 1464 when Marietta, born in Florence in June 1448 , was around 15 years old. An earlier date than 1461 seems unlikely due to the age of the depicted.

Identification of a bust of Marietta Strozzi

Women busts of the Quattrocento are less common than men and have no inscriptions. Therefore, only a few female busts can be assigned to an artist, a person or a time of creation. The female bust described also has no inscriptions that could be used for identification. There are, however, traditions that go back to the 16th century and that consistently depict the artist, the portrayed and the material. These traditions are responsible for the fact that modern art historical research is based on the existence of a bust of Marietta Strozzi . The most famous text passage today is a description by Giorgio Vasari in Desiderio da Settignano's vita : "Also in marble, he portrayed the head of Marietta degli Strozzi from life, which he achieved excellently thanks to its extraordinary beauty."

Client

There are no documents whatsoever for the context in which the bust was created. However, since the sitter appears too young to be the client of the bust herself, Arnold Victor Coonin suggested in 2009 that Marietta's mother Alessandra Bardi or another close family member could have commissioned the bust.

function

Busts were placed in the living room on mantelpiece or over doors to commemorate a person who was still alive or who had already died in the sense of a memoria . In 2009, Arnold Viktor Coonin explained, contrary to the usual function of busts, that - similar to painted portraits - the creation could be sought in connection with marital advertising.

Provenance

The female bust was acquired in 1842 by Gustav Friedrich Waagen , the then general director of the Gemäldegalerie , through the artist Luigi Mussini as a work by Donatello for the Royal Museums in Berlin from Palazzo Strozzi for 20 Francesconi in Florence ; the previous provenance is unknown.

More busts

In the late 19th and early 20th century next to the female bust in possession of were National Museums in Berlin more female busts part of important collections of Italian sculpture in Berlin, Florence, Washington and New York. They have all been linked to Desiderio da Settignano and are partially identified as Marietta Strozzi :

Busts identified as Marietta Strozzi:

Busts that were used for comparison:

Web links

Commons : Bust of Marietta Strozzi (Bode Museum)  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

literature

  • Bode, W. (1888). Desiderio da Settignano and Francesco Laurana: Two Italian female busts of the Quattrocento in the Berlin Museum. In: Yearbook of the Royal Prussian Art Collections , 9 (4), 209-227. Retrieved May 23, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/25167182 .
  • Bode, W. (1889). Desiderio da Settignano and Francesco Laurana: The true bust of Marietta Strozzi. Yearbook of the Royal Prussian Art Collections, 10 (1), 28-33. Retrieved May 23, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/25167191 .
  • Schottmüller, F. (1933). 77. Portrait of Marietta Strozzi. In: The Italian and Spanish sculptures of the Renaissance and Baroque: The sculptures in stone, wood, clay and wax. Berlin: de Gruyter. 38-40.
  • Pope-Hennessy, J. (1958). Italian Renaissance sculpture. An introduction to Italian sculpture. London: Phaedo. 59f., 301, 304, pl. 58.
  • Cardellini, I. (1962). Desiderio da Settignano. Ed.di Comunita, 180-187, 198-205, 248-251. (With literature).
  • Bormand, M. (2007). In: Desiderio da Settignano. 2007, 150-153. (With literature).
  • Coonin, A. (2009). The Most Elusive Woman in Renaissance Art: A Portrait of Marietta Strozzi. In: Artibus Et Historiae, 30 (59), 41-64. Retrieved May 23, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/40343663 .
  • Caglioti, F. (2011). Desiderio da Settignano: Bust of a Young Woman (Marietta di Lorenzo Strozzi?). In: Faces of the Renaissance. Masterpieces of Italian portrait art (= exhib. Cat., Bode-Museum-Berlin, 2011, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2011), ed. by Keith Christiansen and Stefan Weppelmann for the Gemäldegalerie - Staatliche Museen zu Berlin and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Munich: Hirmer, 2011, pp. 107–109.
  • Knuth, M. (2011). Desiderio da Settignano and sculptures attributed to his circle in Berlin. In: Desiderio da Settignano. Collana del Art History Institute in Florence, Max Planck Institute. (16). 189-204.
  • Krahn, V. (2014). X. 17. Desiderio da Settignano - Marietta Strozzi. In: The Springtime of the Renaissance: Sculpture and the Arts in Florence 1400-60, ed. By Paolozzi Strozzi, B. and Bormand, Marc. Firenze. 506.

supporting documents

  1. ↑ Patricia Rubin: Florence and the Portrait of the Renaissance . In: Keith Christiansen, Stefan Weppelmann (ed.): Faces of the Renaissance. Masterpieces of Italian portrait art . (= Exhib. Cat., Bode-Museum, Berlin, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2011). Hirmer, Munich 2011, p. 2–25, here pp. 15–17 .
  2. ↑ a b c Francesco Caglioti: Desiderio da Settignano: Bust of a young woman (Marietta di Lorenzo Strozzi?) . In: Keith Christiansen, Stefan Weppelmann (ed.): Faces of the Renaissance. Masterpieces of Italian portrait art . (= Exhib. Cat., Bode-Museum Berlin, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2011). Hirmer, Munich 2011, p. 107-109 .
  3. ↑ a b c d Volker Krahn: X. 17. Desiderio da Settignano. Marietta Strozzi . In: Beatrice Paolozzi Strozzi, Marc Bormand (Ed.): The Springtime of the Renaissance. Sculpture and the Arts in Florence 1400-60 . Mandragora, Florence 2014, p. 509 .
  4. ^ Frida Schottmüller: 77th portrait of Marietta Strozzi . In: The Italian and Spanish sculptures of the Renaissance and Baroque: The sculptures in stone, wood, clay and wax . de Gruyter, Berlin 1933, p. 38–40, here p. 38 .
  5. ↑ a b c d Arnold Victor Coonin: The Most Elusive Woman in Renaissance Art: A Portrait of Marietta Strozzi . In: Artibus Et Historiae . tape 30 , no. 59 , 2009, p. 41-64, here p. 48 , JSTOR : 40343663 .
  6. ↑ For detailed overviews cf. Caglioti 2011, Bormand 2007, Coonin 2009, Bomard 2007, Pope-Hennessy 1958.
  7. ^ Wilhelm von Bode: Desiderio da Settignano and Francesco Laurana: Two Italian female busts of the Quattrocento in the Berlin Museum . Ed .: Yearbook of the Royal Prussian Art Collections. tape 9 , no. 4 , 1888, p. 209-227 , JSTOR : 25167182 .
  8. ^ Wilhelm von Bode: Desiderio da Settignano and Francesco Laurana: The true bust of Marietta Strozzi . In: Yearbook of the Royal Prussian Art Collections . tape 10 , no. 1 , 1889, p. 28-33 , JSTOR : 25167191 .
  9. ^ John Pope-Hennessy: Italian Renaissance sculpture. An introduction to Italian sculpture . Phaidon, London 1958, p. 59 f., 301, 304 .
  10. ↑ See, for example, Coonin 2009, p. 52, JSTOR: 40343663 .
  11. ↑ Arnold Victor Coonin: The Most Elusive Woman in Renaissance Art: A Portrait of Marietta Strozzi . In: Artibus Et Historiae . tape 30 , no. 59 , 2009, p. 41–64, here p. 43 .
  12. ↑ Marc Bormand: Portrait of a Lady, said to be Marietta Strozzi, ca.1460 . In: Marc Bormand, Beatrice Paolozzi Strozzi, Nicholas Penny (eds.): Desiderio da Settignano: Sculptor of Renaissance Florence . (= Exhib. Cat., National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2007). 5 Continents Editions u. a., Milan 2007, p. 150–153, here p. 150 .
  13. ^ Giorgio Vasari : Vite de 'più eccellenti pittori scultori e architettori , Edizione Torrentiniana, 1550, p. 171. Here after: Giorgio Vasari: The life of the sculptor Desiderio da Settignano . In: Alessandro Nova et al. (Ed.): The life of Giuliano da Maiano, Antonio and Bernardo Rossellino, Desiderio da Settignano and Benedetto da Maiano . Newly translated by Victoria Lorini. Wagenbach, Berlin 2012, p. 43–51, here p. 47 .
  14. ↑ Peter H. Feist: Florentine early Renaissance sculpture in the State Museums in Berlin . Seemann, Leipzig, p. 29 .
  15. ↑ Arnold Victor Coonin: The Most Elusive Woman in Renaissance Art: A Portrait of Marietta Strozzi . In: Artibus Et Historiae . tape 30 , no. 59 , 2009, p. 41-64, here pp. 44-48 , JSTOR : 40343663 .
  16. ^ Wilhelm von Bode: Desiderio da Settignano and Francesco Laurana: Two Italian female busts of the Quattrocento in the Berlin Museum . In: Yearbook of the Royal Prussian Art Collections . tape 9 , no. 4 , 1888, p. 210 , JSTOR : 25167191 .
  17. ↑ For detailed overviews see Cardellini 1962, 180-187, 198-205, 248-251, 272-274; Coonin 2009, 48-57; Caglioti 2011, 107.
  18. ↑ State Museums in Berlin