Patronage, Italian Renaissance sculpture

The first book to be dedicated to the topic, Patronage and Italian Renaissance Sculpture reappraises the creative and intellectual roles of sculptor and patron. The volume surveys artistic production from the Trecento to the Cinquecento in Rome, Pisa, Florence, Bologna, and Venice. Using a broad range of approaches, the essayists question the traditional concept of authorship in Italian Renaissance sculpture, setting each work of art into a complex socio-historical context. Emphasizing the role of the patron, the collection re-assesses the artistic production of such luminaries as Michelangelo, Donatello, and Giambologna, as well as lesser-known sculptors. Contributors shed new light on the collaborations that shaped Renaissance sculpture and its reception.

A devotional crucifix, whose model is believed to be the work of Michelangelo, is known preserved by a minority of casts in silver and bronze, the finest of which, is examined here. The crucifix is here suggested as made for Michelangelo's friend, Vittoria Colonna, as a private gift or possible commission. A census of casts of the model are explored, tracing its origins in Rome and later to Seville where it influenced Spanish sculptors and painters during the first decades of the 17th century.