Vincenzo Danti
Vincenzo Danti (1530 – 26 May 1576) was an Italian Renaissance sculptor from Perugia.
His father was an architect and goldsmith, and Vincenzo developed an interest in drawing and goldsmithing. In 1545 he went to Rome to study sculpture and in 1553 he managed to secure a commission for a bronze statue of Pope Julius III which was placed outside Perugia Cathedral. In 1557 he went to Florence. In 1559 he made a bronze relief depicting Moses and the Brazen Serpent. This was influenced by bronze reliefs by Donatello. It is cast in low relief and is not finished to a very high degree, but is not non finito either.
Although the competition in 1560 for the
In 1567 he started writing a book about rules of order and proportion in architecture. He did intend to write fifteen of these but only did one. In 1569–71 he produced what is probably his most famous work, The Beheading of St John the Baptist. This is positioned above the bronze doors of the south entrance of the
In 1568-72 he carried on Michelangelo's new tradition of depicting modern men in ancient armour (from the Medici Chapel), when he carved Cosimo I as Augustus. This was commissioned for the Uffizi in Florence where it remained until replaced by another statue of Cosimo (a member of the powerful Medici family) by Giambologna. In 1575 he returned to Perugia where he died in 1576.
Girolamo Danti, a brother of Vincenzo, was a painter; he frescoed a chapel including a Resurrection in the ceiling in the church of San Francesco al Prato of Perugia. In
References
- Avery, Charles, Studies in Italian Sculpture, London, The Pindar Press, 2001.
- Mclean, Alick, “Renaissance Architecture in Florence and Central Italy”, in Rolf Toman (ed.), The Art of the Italian Renaissance, KÖNEMANN, 2005.
- Poeschke, Joachim, Michelangelo and His World, New York, Harry N. Abrams, Inc, 1996.
- Vasari, Lives of the Painters, Sculptors and Architects, Volume 1 and 2, New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1996.
- Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Vincenzo Danti". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
- ^ Storia della pittura in Perugia e delle arti, By Angelo Lupattelli, Published by F. Campitelli, Foligno (1895) page 56.