Renaissance sculptor Bertoldo di Giovanni (ca. 1440–1491) was a student of Donatello, a teacher of Michelangelo, and a favourite of Lorenzo de’ Medici “il Magnifico,” his principal patron. Bertoldo was one of the first sculptors to create statuettes in bronze. With an overview of the artist’s entire oeuvre—including The Frick Collection’s Shield Bearer, the only Bertoldo sculpture outside of Europe—this major scholarly catalogue is the most substantial text on Bertoldo ever produced. Featured are contributions from renowned international scholars who bring into focus the sculptor’s unique position at the heart of the artistic and political landscape in fifteenth-century Italy.
Director’s ForewordPreface and AcknowledgmentsConversation with James David DraperBertoldo and His Place between Donatello and Michelangelo by Francesco Caglioti“Custode” and “Capo”: Bertoldo di Giovanni in Lorenzo de Medici’s Sculpture Garden by Caroline ElamWilhelm von Bode and the Rediscovery of Bertoldo di Giovanni by Neville RowleyThe Bronze Statuette in Fifteenth-Century Florence and Bertoldo di Giovanni by Peter Jonathan BellBertoldo di Giovanni “Outstanding Manufacturer of Medals”: Some Observations by Xavier F. Salomon“A Faun Disguised as Hercules”: The Indefinite Identities of Bertoldo di Giovanni’s Shield Bearers by Alexander J. NoelleBattling for Meaning: Bertoldo’s Bronze Relief in the Bargello by Scott NethersoleEssay by Aimee NgBertoldo, a Carver in Bronze by Julia DayThe Glazed Terracotta Frieze of the Medici Villa at Poggio a Caiano: Technique, Execution, Conservation, and Restoration by Stefano Casciu and Maria Grazia CorduaThe Wooden St. Jerome in the Pinacoteca Comunale in Faenza: A Carved and Modeled Sculpture by Peter StibercIn the Rooms of the Princes and the Granducal Gallery: The Bronzes of Bertoldo before the Bargello by Ilaria CiseriCatalogueAppendixArchival Documents: Housing Problems of a Renaissance Artist by Lorenz BöningerBibliographyIndexPhoto Credits