Leone Leoni
Leone Leoni (c. 1509 – 22 July 1590) was an Italian sculptor of international outlook who travelled in Italy, Germany, Austria, France, Spain and the Netherlands. Leoni is regarded as the finest of the Cinquecento medallists.[1] He made his reputation in commissions he received from the Habsburg monarchs Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and Philip II of Spain. His usual medium was bronze, although he also worked in marble and alabaster, carved gemstones and probably left some finished work in wax (in which many of his sculptures were modelled), as well as designing coins. He mainly produced portraits, and was repeatedly used by the Spanish, and also the Austrian, Habsburgs.
Biography
His family origins were at Arezzo,[2] though he was probably born at Menaggio near Lake Como, and his early training, to judge from the finish of his medals, was with a medallist or goldsmith, as Vasari says.[3] His earliest documentation finds him at Venice after 1533, with his wife and infant son, living under the protection of his Aretine compatriot (and possible kinsman), Pietro Aretino, who introduced him to the circle of Titian.[4] Taking advantage of his rival Benvenuto Cellini's being in prison at the time, he secured the role of designer for the Papal mint in Ferrara (1538–40) but was forced to withdraw under accusations of counterfeiting levelled by Pellegrino di Leuti, the jeweller of the Farnese Pope Paul III. Leoni then attacked Pellegrino and was condemned to lose his right hand, a sentence commuted after the intercession of powerful friends to slavery in the galleys, from which the entreaties of Andrea Doria released him after a year: Leoni produced three plaquettes and five medals of Andrea Doria as tokens of his gratitude.[5]
Once freed from the galleys, he "continued his alternation of criminal violence and exquisite workmanship"
He had made an early reputation for portrait medallions, before his major commissions from Charles V, whose image for posterity lies in his portraits by Titian and Leoni. Leoni was the guest of Charles in Brussels in 1549, and the first of the portraits from life dates from this time; however, Leoni had made a portrait medallion of Charles in 1536. In Brussels the Emperor installed Leoni in an apartment below his own and delighted in his company, spending hours watching him at work, Vasari recalled. He knighted Leoni on 2 November 1549.
For the
On a commission from
A marble portrait of Giovan Battista Castaldo, at the Church of San Bartolomeo, Nocera Inferiore — a commission mentioned by Vasari who thought it was bronze and did not know to which monastery it had been sent — was included in the exhibition Tiziano e il ritratto di corte, Museo di Capodimonte, Naples, 2006.[11]
Leoni's commissions for royal portraiture in Spain were an extension of his
Leoni was assisted in the monumental bronzes destined for the
Leoni's name remained among the few recognizable landmarks in 16th century sculpture and consequently attracted many attributions during the nineteenth century.[12]
George Sand's Leone Leoni is not based on the sculptor's career.
Selected attributed works
- Medals including Charles V,[13] Ferdinand I, Philip II, Giorgio Vasari, Michelangelo Buonarroti,[14] Andrea Doria, and Ippolita Gonzaga;
- Charles V Dominating Fury, 1550-53 (Museo del Prado);[15]
- Standing portrait of Isabella of Portugal (Museo del Prado);
- Bust of Giacomo Maria Stampa, 1553 (Walters Art Museum);
- Portrait of Philip II (1554), exhibited in Milan for several months (Philip was Duke of Milan), before being sent to Spain;
- Bust of Alfonso d'Avalos, marchese del Vasto, bronze (Morgan Library, New York);
- Five bronze figures in the monument to Gian Giacomo Medici di Marignano, 1560–63 (Milan Cathedral), portrait of Gian Giacomo with Peace and Martial Virtue; above are Providence and Fame; this was Leoni's first venture at an architectural setting, with a design that Vasari said had been provided by Michelangelo;
- Triumph of Ferrante Gonzaga over Envy, 1564, commissioned by his son Cesare Gonzaga to commemorate Ferrante's governorship of Milan and noted by Vasari (Piazza Mazzini, Guastalla);
- Kneeling figures of Charles V, Philip II and their families, for the church at the Escorial;
- Bust of Charles V (Museo del Prado);
- Bust of Philip II, alabaster (Museo del Prado); another in marble in the Metropolitan;[16]
- Bust of Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy as a boy, bronze, 1572 (Philadelphia Museum of Art);
- Busts of Charles V, Philip II and the Duke of Alva, noted by Vasari, the first two usually Windsor Castle;[17]
- Half-figures in ovals of Charles V, Philip II and Cardinal Granvelle, noted by Vasari;
- Carved gemstone miniatures of Charles V and Philip II (double portrait),[18] Isabella of Portugal, Charles' empress,[19] in the Metropolitan, where there is also an enamelled and jewelled gold pendant medallion of Charles V;
- Undated medal (1563) for Michelangelo's 88th birthday.[20]
References
Bibliography
- Proske, B.I. (1956). Leone Leoni.
Notes
- James J. Rorimerin The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 26.4 (April 1931), p. 88.
- Gian Giacomo Medici di Marignanobears the bronze legend under the soffit LEO·ARRETIN·EQUES·F.
- ^ Vasari, le vite...: "Lione Lioni Aretino" Archived 2007-08-16 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Trevor-Roper, Hugh; Princes and Artists, Patronage and Ideology at Four Habsburg Courts 1517-1633, Thames & Hudson, London, 1976, p. 30
- ^ Trevor-Roper op cit p. 30; British Museum: Cast bronze medal of Andrea Doria Archived 2012-06-30 at archive.today; see also Louvre and National Gallery of Art, Washington; plaquette now in the British Museum
- ^ Trevor-Roper, op cit p. 31.
- JSTOR 990074..
- ^ Trevor-Roper, op. cit. p. 31, 90-91.
- ^ Trevor-Roper op. cit. p. 30.
- ^ ...alcuni pezzi di bronzo in forma ovale di braccia due l'uno, con ricchi partimenti e mezze statue dentrovi; in uno è Carlo Quinto, in un altro il re Filippo, e nel terzo esso cardinale, ritratti di naturale: e tutte hanno imbasamenti di figurette graziosissime.
- ^ "On-line website". Archived from the original on 2007-06-22. Retrieved 2007-07-02.
- ^ E. Plon, Leone Leoni, sculpteur de Charles-Quint et Pompeo Leoni, sculpteur de Philippe II (Paris 1883) was singled out as particularly filled with unwarranted attributions by Ulrich Middeldorf, "On some portrait busts attributed to Leone Leoni" The Burlington Magazine 117 No. 863 (February 1975), pp. 84-89, 91.
- ^ Nine medals of several of these figures from the Louvre
- Daniello Ricciarelli, and this one of Lione's, of which there have been so many copies made that I have seen a great number in Italy and elsewhere."[1]
- ^ Museo del Prado: Charles V Dominating Fury Archived 2007-06-09 at the Wayback Machine; the armor is removable, showing Charles V equally well as a heroic nude, a tour de force that delighted Vasari: quella poi con due gusci sottilissimi vestì d'una molto gentile armatura, che se gli lieva e veste facilmente, e con tanta grazia che chi la vede vestita non s'accorge e non può quasi credere ch'ella sia ignuda, e quando è nuda niuno crederebbe agevolmente ch'ella potesse così bene armarsi già mai. (Vasari).
- ^ picture
- ^ The Royal Collection: Leoni: Ha fatto Lione al duca d'Alva la testa di lui, quella di Carlo Quinto e quella del re Filippo. (Vasari). Vasari notes another bust of Alva, for Gonzaga at Sabbioneta.
- ^ Metropolitan Museum of Art
- ^ Metropolitan Museum of Art
- ^ Forrer, L. (1907). "Leoni, Leone". Biographical Dictionary of Medallists. Vol. III. London: Spink & Son Ltd. p. 400.
External links
Media related to Leone Leoni at Wikimedia Commons