Master of the gaunt old

A Venetian sculptor is known as the master of the gaunt elderly , who created several bronze statuettes with depictions of gaunt naked old men during the transition from the Renaissance to the Baroque . The figures are characterized by an anatomically exact reproduction of the muscles. What exactly the figures represent is not known for certain; similar works have been interpreted differently as river gods or Old Testament figures.

The artist, who is not known by name, is assigned to the circle of the sculptor Alessandro Vittoria , who lived in Venice until 1608 . He, too, had created figures that older men wanted to depict aesthetically and artistically. The motif could be understood as an honor of old age, in the Republic of Venice government bodies were often occupied by a number of older men.

The emergency name proposed by the art historian Leo Planiscig for the master of the gaunt elderly and his catalog of works remain controversial.

literature

• Leo Planiscig: Venetian Renaissance Sculptors . Vienna 1921
• John Pope-Hennessy: Italian bronze statuettes: II. In: The Burlington Magazine, 105.1963, pp. 58-71
• HH de Lichtenberg: Johan Gregor van der Schardt . Copenhagen 1991
• Norbert Huse, Wolfgang Wolters: Venice - The art of the Renaissance. Architecture, sculpture, painting 1460 - 1590 . Munich 1996