BELLANO, Bartolomeo

Bartolommeo Bellano executed a number of small metal figures for Pope Paul II and for others, and he has been recognized as one of the earliest Italian sculptors to make a speciality of bronze statuettes. The present work is one of Bellano’s masterpieces in bronze. Its debt to Donatello’s David is reflected in the hero’s pose with hip swung out and one arm akimbo and the gigantic head of Goliath at his feet.

A number of later versions testify to the continuing esteem in which this sculpture was held well into the sixteenth century.

One of the most remarkable aspects of this sculpture is a relief on the underside of the base that depicts David and his flock of sheep. This feature is unique to Renaissance bronzes, and suggests the statuette was meant to be handled, admired, turned over, and contemplated by its owner.

This bronze relief reflects the refined climate of Renaissance humanism that had spread through the Veneto by the end of the fifteenth century.

Bellano, a sculptor from Padua was an assistant to Donatello when the old master worked on the pulpits of San Lorenzo in Florence. The statuette depicting Europa and the Bull was executed in Padua. The small bronze statuette reflects a naturalistic style heavily tempered in spirit by Donatello’s classicism.

Bellano created numerous small bronzes such as the Grazing Ox in the Galleria Franchetti.

This relief, which seems to have formed the central part of a carved altarpiece or an antependium relief, was made for the church of SS Trinità at Padua. Following the destruction of the church in 1509, the relief was moved, first to the church of San Giacomo (in 1530) and later (between 1811 and 1817) to the Lazara Palace. The tonsured figure in the rear place of the relief appears to represent the donor, who probably held the office of Prevesto della SS Trinità.

This relief, which seems to have formed the central part of a carved altarpiece or an antependium relief, was made for the church of SS Trinità at Padua. Following the destruction of the church in 1509, the relief was moved, first to the church of San Giacomo (in 1530) and later (between 1811 and 1817) to the Lazara Palace. The tonsured figure in the rear place of the relief appears to represent the donor, who probably held the office of Prevesto della SS Trinità.

Bellano’s monument to Pietro Roccabonella (d. 1491) in San Francesco, Padua, was completed by Andrea Riccio in 1498 after Bellano’s death. The tomb has not survived in its original form, but two large bronze reliefs, one of the Virgin and Child with Sts Anthony of Padua and Peter Martyr and the other showing Roccabonella in his study, and two bronze statuettes of putti formed part of it and are still in the church. The second relief was a model for other scholars’ tombs in the early 16th century.

Pietro Roccabonella was a well known professor of medicine in Padua.

Bellano’s monument to Pietro Roccabonella (d. 1491) in San Francesco, Padua, was completed by Andrea Riccio in 1498 after Bellano’s death. The tomb has not survived in its original form, but two large bronze reliefs, one of the Virgin and Child with Sts Anthony of Padua and Peter Martyr and the other showing Roccabonella in his study, and two bronze statuettes of putti formed part of it and are still in the church. The second relief was a model for other scholars’ tombs in the early 16th century.

Pietro Roccabonella was a well known professor of medicine in Padua.

Between 1484 and 1490 Bellano made ten bronze reliefs illustrating scenes from the Old Testament for the choir-screen in the Santo in Padua. Initially, the commission had been given to Bertoldo di Giovanni and Giovanni Fonduli, but their trial reliefs were found to be unsatisfactory, and in November 1484 Bellano was commissioned to make the whole cycle.

The ten reliefs are rightly considered among the most prestigious commissions of Bellano’s career. He boldly and purposefully broke with the bronze narrative tradition of both Ghiberti and Donatello, renowned masters of the medium, to create a different type of narrative in bronze. Bellano’s first relief, Samson Destroying the Temple of the Philistines (in situ), is his masterpiece. Vasari praised the dramatic depiction of the scene. The panels are remarkable for their unconventional compositions in which numerous small-scale figures and animals stand out in high relief against mountainous landscape settings. Bellano proved himself to be a remarkable narrative artist.

This tabernacle-reliquary is located in the Sacristy of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari.

This bronze panel of three horses at pasture is an example of Bellano’s pleasingly spontaneous and realistic art.

This relief seems to be the only authentic surviving example of one of Bellano’s most delightful Madonna compositions.