Il Bresciano: Bronze-caster of Renaissance Venice

(Hardback)

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The first comprehensive study of an important Italian Renaissance bronze-caster by a leading authority.

'This monograph is a testament to the work of Charles Avery, who has put Il Bresciano on the map as a leading Italian Renaissance sculptor Avery has established an impressively substantial oeuvre for Bresciano.' David Ekserdjian, The Art Newspaper

A nucleus of sculptures cast by Andrea di Alessandri, commonly called from his native city, Il Bresciano, or from his products, Andrea dai bronzi, has been identified over the centuries. His style has been described as having similarities both with the High Renaissance of Sansovino and the Mannerism of Vittoria, the two successive master sculptors of sixteenth-century Venice, though he cast major bronzes for both. Andreas signed masterpiece is a Paschal Candlestick in bronze, over two metres high and with sixty or more fascinating figures, made for Sansovinos magnificent lost church of Santo Spirito in 1568 and now in Santa Maria della Salute.

The authors identification in 1996 of a pair of magnificent Firedogs with sphinx feet (which in 1568 had been recommended to Prince Francesco deMedici in Florence), and in 2015 of an elaborate figurative bronze Ewer in Verona, have been the culmination of the process of recognition. Archival research has at last revealed the span of Andreas life as 1524/25-1573, as well as many significant facts about his family and patronage. So the time is ripe for a comprehensive, well-illustrated, book on Il Bresciano, a new and major bronzist in the great tradition of north Italy.

Reviews

This monograph is a testament to the work of Charles Avery, who has put Il Bresciano on the map as a leading Italian Renaissance sculptor Avery has established an impressively substantial oeuvre for Bresciano. -- David Ekserdjian * The Art Newspaper *
Bien illustr, il fournit donc tout le matriel actuellement disponible pour connatre un artiste qui mritait assurment dtre tir de loubli o dorment encore presque tous les bronziers de ce temps. -- Bertrand Jestaz * le Bulletin Monumental *
Charles Avery has been on the trail of Il Bresciano for decades and ... he makes the case for setting the sculptor alongside more well-known masters of bronze in 16th century Venice. * Apollo *
This excellent monograph is a major contribution to our understanding of Venetian Renaissance sculpture, eloquently demonstrating that, in his best works, he was a gifted and fluent craftsman. -- Jeremy Warren * The Burlington Magazine *

Author Bio

Charles Avery is a specialist on European sculpture, particularly Italian, French, English and Flemish. A graduate of Cambridge University and the Courtauld Institute of Art, he later obtained a doctorate from Cambridge. He is a Cavaliere of the Order of Merit of Italy, and has been a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London and a Trustee of the British-Italian Society.

He was Deputy Keeper of Sculpture at the Victoria & Albert Museum for twelve years, then a Director of Christie's for a decade: since 1990 he has been an independent historian, writer and lecturer. His published works include Giambologna: The Complete Sculpture; Renaissance and Baroque Bronzes in the Frick Art Museum; Donatello: An Introduction; David Le Marchand (1674-1726): 'An Ingenious Man for Carving in Ivory'; Bernini, Genius of the Baroque; The Triumph of Motion: Francesco Bertos (1678-1741); A School of Dolphins and Joseph de Levis & Company: Renaissance Bronze-founders in Verona (PWP).