Product Code Database
Stefano Maderno ( c. 1576 – 17 September 1636) was one of the greatest Roman sculptors of the early 17th century. "Stefano Maderno (1576 - 1636)", The National Gallery
Maderno began by copying the antique and made several highly esteemed models in bronze. He is best known for the seemingly unposed, naturalistic recumbent marble of Santa Cecilia in the Church of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere (1599–1600), which immediately established his reputation. Handley, Marie Louise. "Stefano Maderno." The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 9. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 30 November 2022
Elected to the Accademia di San Luca in 1607, Maderno became the pre-eminent sculptor of his generation, on the cusp between Mannerism and Baroque, rivalled in his prime only by Camillo Mariani, though he was eclipsed in his later years by the rapidly rising star of Bernini. His patron, Count Gaspare Rivaldi, having sought to reward him by procuring for him a sinecure at the excise offices of the Gabelle di Ripetta, the sculptor dutifully devoted his time to his new duties and neglected his art.
He also provided a marble Prudence for the tomb of Michele Bonelli, known as the Cardinale Alessandrino, in Santa Maria sopra Minerva, and provided two bas-reliefs for Paul V's Cappella Paolina at Santa Maria Maggiore (1608–1615); probably the figure of St. Peter for the façade of the Quirinal Palace; a statue of St. Charles Borromeo in the church of San Lorenzo in Damaso; decorative figures of putti in the Sistine Chapel of Santa Maria Maggiore, angels of the Madonna di Loreto and Santa Maria sopra Minerva and the reclining figures of Peace and Justice for the high altar at Santa Maria della Pace.
Of the few sculptures outside of Italy, Cincinnati has a small bronze (c. 1622–25) portraying Hercules and Antaeus, wherein Hercules has to lift Antaeus off the ground to kill him [3]. Finally there are several Bozzetto— terracotta sketches, in Maderno's case highly finished ones— at the Hermitage, which came from the collection of Abate Filippo Farsetti in Venice, who possessed several of Maderno's terracottas, a form in which Maderno specialized. Tsar Paul I of Russia began acquiring Farsetti's collection in 1800, and the transfer to Saint Petersburg was completed in 1805 by Tsar Alexander I [4]. One of the Hermitage terracottas is a suggested restoration of the Laocoön, the correct restoration of which was a classic puzzle for 16th- and 17th-century virtuosi— another a variation on the Farnese Hercules, and yet another a remarkable Pietà (c. 1605), where Nicodemus holds the dead Christ in his lap, a conscious response to Michelangelo's Pietà [5]
Further terracottas are in the collection at the Ca' d'Oro, Venice.
, Berlin, Germany.]], Saint Petersburg, Russia.]]
Sources
External links
Further reading
|
|
