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This free-standing, painted, terracotta portrait sculpture shows the head, shoulders, and chest of a man with dark hair and a prominent nose. His face and body are angled slightly to our right in this photograph, and he looks down his crooked nose. He has peach-colored skin, which is lightly shadowed around his chin. His thin lips are set in a line, and his brow is furrowed low above his eyes. Chin-length brown hair hangs straight down the sides of his face. His garment has scarlet-red sleeves under a navy-blue tunic, and he wears a red headdress that hangs down to his shoulder over his left ear, on our right. A red scarf drapes across his chest, and the end hangs on his chest on our left. Paint losses on the surface of the sculpture allow the brown terracotta to show through in some areas.

Florentine 16th Century, probably after a model by Andrea del Verrocchio and Orsino Benintendi

Lorenzo de' Medici, possibly 1513/1520

West Building, Main Floor — Gallery 7

Medium

painted terracotta

Dimensions

overall: 65.8 x 59.1 x 32.7 cm (25 7/8 x 23 1/4 x 12 7/8 in.)

Credit Line

Samuel H. Kress Collection

Accession Number

1943.4.92

Artists / Makers

Florentine 16th Century (sculptor)

Andrea del Verrocchio (artist after) Florentine, c. 1435 - 1488

Orsino Benintendi (artist after) Florentine, 1440 - c. 1498

Image Use

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Overview

Lorenzo de' Medici, the brilliant, learned, and ruthless head of a wealthy banking family, ruled the Italian city-state of Florence in the Renaissance. This bust may copy a wax statue made to commemorate Lorenzo's survival in 1478, when an assassination plot took the life of his younger brother. The simple costume, with a distinctively Florentine padded and draped headdress, reflects Lorenzo's claim to be merely a respected citizen rather than a de facto prince. Cleaning in recent years (completed 2006) has brought out the original bright reds, warm flesh tones, and a light beard. The brooding face suggests the forceful intelligence behind Lorenzo's power. This haunting likeness may have been molded from his death mask.

Provenance

Alessandro Rivani [1746-c. 1832], Florence.[1] Carlo Ernesto Liverati [1805-1844], Florence, until c. 1835;[2] Rev. John Sanford [1777-1855], Florence and London;[3] sold c. 1841 to Edward Nicholls Dennys, London, until at least 1850.[4] Henry Labouchere, 1st baron Taunton [1798-1869], Stoke Park, Over-Stowey, Somersetshire, by 1862; by inheritance to his son-in-law, Edward James Stanley [1826-1907], Quantock Lodge, Bridgewater, Somersetshire; by inheritance to his son, Edward Arthur Vesey Stanley [1879-1941], Quantock Lodge;[5] (his sale, Sotheby's, London, 16 July 1920, no. 17);[6] probably purchased by (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London, New York, and Paris);[7] sold to Clarence H. Mackay [1874-1938], Roslyn, New York, by 1923;[8] his estate; sold 1940 through (Jacques Seligmann and Co., New York) to (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London, New York, and Paris);[9] purchased 1941 by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York; gift 1943 to NGA.

[1] Edward Nicholls Dennys (in a letter to the editor, "The Bust of Lorenzo the Magnificent," The Art-Union [October 1843]: 202) quotes a letter he received from the Rev. John Sanford (see note 2), from whom he (Dennys) purchased the bust: "It was previously in the possession of the 'Avvocati Rivani, a very distinguished scholar and collector of works of Art, who died about ten years since. He was Secretary to the Antiquarian Society called Colombaria." Rivani also owned Lorenzo de' Medici's death mask, which he gave to the Società Colombaria in 1827. See in addition Adrienne DeAngelis, "On the Ashmolean bust of Lorenzo de' Medici," The Sculpture Journal 13 (2005): 5-17, who also refers to Dennys' letter.

[2] In the same letter quoted by Dennys (see note 1), Sanford tells Dennys that he (Sanford) "purchased it of an artist, in whose studio he found it for sale as the undoubted work of Michael Angelo [sic]." Giancarlo Gentilini, in a letter of 12 August 1995 to Alison Luchs, confirms the artist as Liverati (information in the archives of the Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze, 1852, no. 135; letter in NGA curatorial files).

[3] Sanford lived in Florence from 1815 to 1837, and formed a collection of Italian paintings. The 1852 document (see note 2) records that Sanford commissioned Aristodemo Costoli to make a cast of the bust and to carve a marble version. Molds were taken from the marble, and casts made, several of which Sanford gave to Italian institutions. Sanford took the bust to England, and offered it for sale, according to Dennys (see note 1), around 1841 "in the gallery of a commission-agent in Old Bond-street." The bust did not appear in Sanford's two sales, mostly of paintings, held in London in 1838 and 1839.

[4] See note 1. Dennys lent the bust to an exhibition at the House of the Society of Arts in London in 1850.

[5] Lord Taunton lent the bust to an extended exhibition from 1862 to 1864 at the South Kensington Museum in London. According to Trifon Trapesnikoff (Die Porträtdarstellungen der Mediceer des XV Jahrhunderts, Strassburg, 1909: 50), the bust was with "Lord Taunton in England."

[6] The 1920 sale catalogue incorrectly states that the bust was bought in Italy during the 1840s by Lord Taunton from Professor Santarelli, a well-known Florentine sculptor. The bust purchased from Santarelli is another bust of Lorenzo de' Medici now in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. Ulrich Middeldorf (Sculptures from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: European Schools XIV-XIX Century, London, 1976: 43-45) repeats this error, and mistakenly says the sale was held by Christie's instead of Sotheby's.

[7] Wilhelm Bode wrote to Joseph Duveen on 25 June 1920, expressing his opinion about the bust (transcription of letter in NGA curatorial files), and Mary Berenson wrote to her husband, Bernard Berenson, on 17 July 1920, describing Duveen showing her the bust (Barbara Strachey and Jayne Samuels, eds., Mary Berenson. A Self-Portrait from her Letters & Diaries, New York and London, 1983: 233).

[8] Wilhelm Bode, Art in America (December 1923): 5.

[9] See the Mackay files in the Seligmann papers, Archives of American Art, boxes 238-239 (copies in NGA curatorial files). The sale to Duveen was announced in The Art Digest ("Il Magnifico," [15 May 1940]: 8).

Associated Names

Dennys, Edward Nicholls
Duveen Brothers, Inc.
Duveen Brothers, Inc.
Kress Foundation, Samuel H.
Labouchere, 1st baron Taunton, Henry
Liverati, Carlo Ernesto
Mackay, Clarence H.
Rivani, Alessandro
Sanford, John, Rev.
Seligmann & Cie., Jacques
Stanley, Edward Arthur Vesey
Stanley, Edward James

Exhibition History

1850: Works of Ancient and Mediaeval Art, The House of the Society of Arts, London, 1850, no. 617, as Attributed to Michelangelo.

1862: Special Exhibition of Works of Art of the Mediaeval, Renaissance, and more recent periods, South Kensington Museum, London, 1862-1864, no. 1, as Florentine 15th Century.

1946: Recent Additions to the Kress Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1946, no. A-146.

2004: Verrocchio's David Restored: A Renaissance Bronze from the National Museum of the Bargello, Florence, National Museum of the Bargello, Florence; High Museum of Art, Atlanta; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2004, not in catalogue (shown only in Washington).

2013: Florenz!, Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Bonn, 2013-2014, no. 109, repro.

2013: Nello splendore mediceo: Papa Leone X e Firenze, Museo delle Cappelle Mediceee, Florence, 2013, no. 8, repro.

2019: Verrocchio. Sculptor and Painter of Renaissance Florence. National Gallery of Art, 2019-2020, no. 22, repro.

Bibliography

1909: Trapesnikoff, Trifon. Die Porträtdarstellungen der Mediceer des XV Jahrhunderts. Strassburg, 1909: 49-50, repro.

1923: Sherman, Frederic F. "Italian Portrait Paintings and Busts of the Quattrocento." Art in America 12, n. 1 (December 1923): 5, repro.

1925: Valentiner, Wilhelm R. "The Clarence H. Mackay Collection." Art in America 13, no. 5 (1925): 250-251, fig.7.

1926: Valentiner, W.R. The Clarence H. Mackay Collection. New York, 1926: 6, 9-10, no. 14, repro.

1930: Westheim, Paul, ed. "Achtung, Falschkunst! Fälscher und Kenner." Das Kunstblatt 14 (July 1930): 204, repro.

1932: Warburg, Aby. Die Erneuerung der heidnischen Antike: kulturwissenschaftliche Beiträge zur Geschichte der europäischen Renaissance. 2 vols. Leipzig and Berlin, 1932:1:99, n. 2.

1935: Bertini, Aldo. "L'arte del Verrocchio." L'Arte 38 (November 1935): 462, n. 2.

1935: "Professor Volpi Publishes Verrocchio Work." Art News 33 (Saturday, June 1, 1935): 12, repro.

1935: Volpi, Elia. Lorenzo de' Medici: Busto in terracotta opera di Andrea del Verrocchio (1435-1488). Città di Castello, 1935: not paginated, repro.

1937: Cortissoz, Royal. An Introduction to the Mellon Collection. Boston, 1937: 23.

1944: Duveen Brothers, Inc. Duveen Sculpture in Public Collections of America: A Catalog Raisonné with illustrations of Italian Renaissance Sculptures by the Great Masters which have passed through the House of Duveen. New York, 1944: figs. 145-149.

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1955: Finley, David E. "Museum Director's Choice: From great art in public collections experts select their favorite works." Life (February 21, 1955): 94, repro.

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1965: Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 173.

1966: Covi, Dario. “Four new documents concerning Andrea del Verrocchio.” The Art Bulletin 48, n. 1 (March 1966): 101-103.

1968: National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 152, repro.

1969: Passavant, Günter. Verrocchio. Sculptures, Paintings and Drawings. Complete Edition. Translated from the German MS by Katherine Watson. London, 1969: no. 4.

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1976: Middeldorf, Ulrich. Sculptures from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: European Schools XIV-XIX Century. London, 1976: 79.

1976: Schuyler, Jane. Florentine Busts: Sculpted Portraiture in the Fifteenth Century. New York, 1976: 302, fig. 80.

1981: Langedijk, Karla. The Portraits of the Medici: 15th-18th Centuries. 3 vols. Florence, 1981-1987: 1(1981):27-30; 2(1983):1140, 1158-1162, no. 28, repro.

1982: Alsop, Joseph. The Rare Art Traditions: The History of Art Collecting and Its Linked Phenomena Wherever These Have Appeared. Bollingen series 35, no. 27. New York, 1982: fig. 77.

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1988: Elam, Caroline. "Art and Diplomacy in Renaissance Florence: Delivered to the Society on Wednesday 25 May 1988, with Professor Nicolai Rubenstein, FBA, in the Chair." RSA Journal 136, n. 5387 (October 1988): 817, fig. 4.

1992: Bartlett, Kenneth R. The Civilization of the Italian Renaissance: A Sourcebook. Lexington, MA and Toronto, 1992: 257, repro.

1992: Darr, Alan Phipps. “Verrocchio’s Legacy: Observations Regarding His Influence on Pietro Torrigiani and Other Florentine Sculptors.” In Verrocchio and Late Quattrocento Italian Sculpture. Steven Bule, Alan Phipps Darr, and Fiorella Superbi Gioffredi. eds. (Acts of two conferences commemorating the fifth centenary of Verrocchio’s death. I. April 1988 at Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah; II. June 1989 at the Accademia delle Arti del Disegno and the Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies at Villa I Tatti, Florence). Florence, 1992:125-139, esp. 137.

1992: Fiero, Gloria K. On the Threshold of Modernity: The Renaissance and the Reformation. The Humanistic Tradition 3. 1st ed. [7th ed. 2015] Dubuque, Iowa, 1992: 25, fig. 16.1.

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1992: Stapleford, Richard. The Age of Lorenzo de' Medici: Patronage and the Arts in Renaissance Florence. A Walking Tour of Italian Painting and Sculpture in the National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1992: 5.

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1993: The American Heritage College Dictionary, 3rd ed., s.v. "Medici," repro. Boston, 1993.

1993: Toscani, Bernard, ed. Lorenzo de' Medici: New Perspectives. Proceedings of the International Conference Held at Brooklyn College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, April 30- May 2, 1992. New York, 1993: not paginated, repro.

1993: Vasari, Giorgio. Giorgio Vasari Lives of the Artists: A Selection Translated by George Bull. Translated by George Bull. London, 1993: 39, repro.

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1996: Kobrin, David. Beyond the Textbook: Teaching History Using Documents and Primary Sources. Boston, 1996: 41, fig. 3-3.

1998: Warren, Jeremy. "A portrait bust of Lorenzo de' Medici in Oxford." The Sculpture Journal 2 (1998): 1-12.

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2013: Kohl, Jeanette. “Casting Renaissance Florence: the bust of Giovanni de’ Medici and indexical portraiture.” In Carvings, Casts & Collectors: The Art of Renaissance Sculpture. Peta Motture, Emma Jones and Dimitrios Zikos, eds. London, 2013: 58-71, esp. 62-63, 70, repro. 63.

2013: McHam, Sarah Blake. Pliny and the Artistic Culture of the Italian Renaissance:The Legacy of the Natural History. New Haven and London, 2013: 118-119, repro.

2017: Rudolph, Conrad, Amit Roy-Chowdhury, Ramya Srinivasan, and Jeanette Kohl. "FACES: Faces, Art, and Computerized Evaluation Systems -- A Feasibility Study of the Application of Face Recognition Technology to Works of Portrait Art." Artibus et historiae 39, no. 75 (2017): 265-291, esp. 272-273, repro. 273, 288-289.

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