Christ Redeemer. Andrea Ferrucci and workshop (Fiesole ca. 1465 – 1526)
Description:
Painted stucco sculpture, representing the bust of Christ the Redeemer. Dressed in a red tunic embellished with a golden collar, a blue cloak is draped over his left shoulder. His face is slightly tilted to the left, his features are pointed and gaunt, his gaze is melancholy and low, and is framed by long, almost disheveled curls.
Presented with a molded wooden base, lacquered in black and with golden inserts, of 17th century Tuscan manufacture.
Dimensions: 45 x 46 x 25 cm. (base 9 x 55 x 23 cm.)
CODE: ARARAR0204981
Historical-stylistic analysis:
Subject widely addressed in the Florentine workshops between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, from the example of Andrea del Verrocchio’s sculpture for Orsanmichele and in the wake of Savonarola’s preaching who proclaimed “Jesus King of Florence”.
The terracotta is well known (from a private collection, formerly the Galleria Antichi Maestri Pittori) which served as a prototype for our sculpture, and of which various cast versions are known, mainly in stucco. Among the various examples, we remember the one preserved in the church of San Michele a Raggiolo (Arezzo), in this case in polychrome terracotta.
The almost imaginative revival of Verrocchiesque characters, together with a rather lively and completely original expressive rendering, have led critics to unanimously identify the author as Andrea Ferrucci, in this case assisted by the workshop. Belonging to a Fiesole family of artists, Andrea was its leading exponent, much sought after both in the Florentine artistic environment and in that of Naples, a city in which he was active on several occasions between 1487 and 1508.
Comparison bio:
- G. Gentilini, La dignità della terra, catalogo della mostra di Torino, Torino 1998, n. 3;
- A. Bellandi, in L’età di Savonarola. Arte e devozione in Casentino tra ‘400 e ‘500, catalogo della mostra di Bibbiena e Raggiolo, a cura di
- L. Borri Cristelli, Venezia 1998, pp. 49-50, n. 4;
- L. Lorenzi, Il maestro del Bigallo e la bottega di Andrea del Verrocchio, in “Ceramica Antica”, XI, 2001, 1, pp. 50-65, alle pp. 54-55;
- R. Naldi, Andrea Ferrucci, marmi gentili tra la Toscana e Napoli, Napoli 2002.
- Christ Redeemer. Andrea Ferrucci and workshop (Fiesole ca. 1465 – 1526)
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