Venice

VENETIAN MASTER WOODCARVER INFLUENCED BY ANDREA DEL VERROCCHIO

WORK TITLE

Saint Michael the Archangel slaying the dragon

DATE OF THE WORK

Circa 1480

MATERIAL

Carved and polychrome wood (notably on the face)

MEASURES

45 × 21.5 × 8 cm

RICHIEDI INFORMAZIONI

DESCRIPTION

The statuette corresponds remarkably closely with an important, and much larger and better preserved, statue that forms the focus of the altar of a chapel dedicated to the archangel in the left transept of the Church of the Frari in central Venice.
The way in which St Michael’s armour is described in the wooden statuette, with far greater emphasis on its ornamentation all’antica, is strongly reminiscent of the Florentine Renaissance. This could have been transmitted to Venice by the presence there at the time of Andrea del Verrocchio. This latter was involved from 1481-1488 in making the full-scale models for the horse and rider to commemorate Bartolommeo Colleoni, which, due to the sculptor›s death , were cast in bronze by the local expert, Giacomo Leopardi.

LITERATURE

C. Avery, in Talking Points-Spunti per conversare, a cura di L. Violo, Longari arte Milano, Milano 2014, pp. 44-55.

C. Avery, in Talking Points-Spunti per conversare, edited by L. Violo, Longari arte Milano, Milan 2014, pp. 8-19.