FONTANA, Annibale

The picture shows a relief on the fa�ade of Santa Maria dei Miracoli presso San Celso.

Ottavio Farnese (1524-1586) reigned as Duke of Parma and Piacenza from 1547 until his death.

Ottavio Farnese (1524-1586) reigned as Duke of Parma and Piacenza from 1547 until his death.

Annibale Fontana worked on the fa�ade of Santa Maria dei Miracoli from 1575 to 1587: he made the statues of the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah for the lower niches, the two Sibyls on the main portal, the reliefs with the Adoration of the Shepherds, the Presentation in the Temple and the Wedding at Cana, the statue of the prophet Zechariah in the upper niche, two Angels of the fastigium.

The detail from the fa�ade displays an Annunciation and a Nativity by Stoldo Lorenzi, and below two statues of Sibyls, by Annibale Fontana.

The Latin inscription VERBUM CARO FACTUM EST reads in English “The divine word became flesh”.

Designed as a pair, these elaborately modeled drug jars were made to contain mithridatum and theriac, used as antidotes to poisons, to ward off the plague, and as general cure-alls. They were among the most highly prized and complex drugs in the Renaissance pharmacy, especially in Italy and France, where they continued to be made for centuries. The highly decorative combination of gilding and lead-white paint on the outside of the vessels disguises their basic function as drug jars, a purpose supported by the fact that their interiors are glazed to make them watertight.

These jars, elaborately decorated with a rich sampling of sixteenth-century ornament, would have been prominently displayed by the owner or pharmacy to which they belonged. The vigorous strapwork, masks, and relief and figural decoration are typical of Italian Mannerist decorative arts and are closely related to the work of the most important Milanese sculptor of the period, Annibale Fontana.

This terracotta drug jar, one of a pair, was made to contain a specific preparation: theriaca Andromachi. The preparation was named for Andromachus, shown seated on the lid clasping a drug jar against his thigh, who was the court physician for the Roman Emperor Nero. Commanded by Nero to improve on an existing antidote for poison, Andromachus removed some ingredients and added others, the most important of which was vipers’ flesh. The relief on the back of the jar shows Andromachus in the act of cutting up some vipers, while being observed by a group of doctors, all wearing tall hats. The relief on the front shows the doctor presenting his new drug to the Emperor.

Inscription around top circumference: QVAMVIS CVSTODITA DRACONE.

Francesco Ferdinando d’�valos d’Aquino, VII marquis of Pescara and III marquis of Vasto (c. 1530-1571), was commander in chief of the Spanish army in Lombardy and Piedmont, governor of the State of Milan (1560-63) and viceroy of Sicily (1568-71).

Inscription around circumference: FERDINAND[us] FRAN[ciscus] DAVALOS DE AQVIN[o] MAR[chio] P[escarae].

The obverse of this medal portrays Giovanni Paolo Lomazzo (1538-1600), a Milanese painter and theorist. The reverse shows Lomazzo Presented to Mercury by Fortune.

The inscription around circumference of the obverse: IO[annes] PAVLVS LOMATIVS PIC[tor].

This engraved plaque shows a scene from the life of the mythological hero Hercules and was initially set into a sumptuous, gilded casket that belonged to the ducal Gonzaga family of Mantua.

Hercules was famous for his strength and virtue, and princes often surrounded themselves with his image as an ideal for (and an idealized image of) themselves. This scene is from the Twelve Labors of Hercules, tasks given to him by King Eurystheus, who thought they were impossible to accomplish, including killing a many-headed hydra (dragon).

At some point the casket was taken apart; eight related plaques are preserved. Hercules’s powerful musculature reveals Fontana’s study of ancient sculpture.

This engraved plaque shows a scene from the life of the mythological hero Hercules and was initially set into a sumptuous, gilded casket that belonged to the ducal Gonzaga family of Mantua.

Hercules was famous for his strength and virtue, and princes often surrounded themselves with his image as an ideal for (and an idealized image of) themselves. The rivalry of Hercules and the river god Achelous was narrated in the Roman poet Ovid’s The Metamorphoses. Both were suitors of Deianira, the beautiful Greek maiden who became Hercules’s wife.

Annibale Fontana’s genius as an engraver comes through in details such as the spiky underbrush of the riverbank and the shaggy lion’s skin that Hercules wore.

This plaque is from a series of twelve depicting the deeds of Hercules made for a casket of rock crystal, ebony, and gold, mounted with jewels.

Achelous, a river god, competed with Hercules for the hand of the princess Deianira, daughter of Oeneus, king of Calydon, and Althaea. Hercules managed to defeat the god and claim Deianira as his wife.

One of the major glyptic artists working in Milan during the second half of the sixteenth century, Fontana engraved exquisitely luminous Late Mannerist scenes from classical mythology and biblical subjects in rock crystal. The Metropolitan Museum’s medallion is one of a series twelve rock crystals (of which six survived) engraved with episodes from the story of Hercules; the medallions were removed from a casket, now destroyed, that once belonged to the Gonzaga duke of Mantua, Vincenzo I (r. 1587-1612).

The casket, ornamented with gold and pearls, would have been highly valued as a splendid example of Milanese goldsmiths’ work, as well as of intaglio engraving. A casket, set with Fontana’s rock-crystal plaques and made for Albrecht V, duke of Bavaria (r. 1550-79), can still to be seen in the Schatzkammer of the Munich Residenz.

The decoration of this elegant rock crystal goblet is focused entirely on the engravings, which are cut into the polished surface. The many-figures scenes of the cupola illustrate the story of Proserpina and the myth of the origin of seasons. In the principal axis on the lid above it sit the personifications of the four seasons in their characteristic landscape surroundings.

The unusually masterful carving of the scenes is linked to the person of Annibale Fontana who initially worked as a medallist and stonecutter and later as an accredited sculptor in Milan. He was related to the Saracchi brothers with whom he must have worked very closely. Among the various works in rock crystal that may be attributed to him, this goblet holds a special place in that it is the first example of his work in this field.

The obverse of this medal portrays Giovanni Paolo Lomazzo (1538-1600), a Milanese painter and theorist. The reverse shows Lomazzo Presented to Mercury by Fortune.

The inscription around right circumference of the reverse: VTRIVSQVE.

The obverse of the medal shows the bust of Francesco Ferdinando d’’�valos d’Aquino, VII marquis of Pescara and III marquis of Vasto (c. 1530-1571), while the reverse depicts Francesco Ferdinando as Hercules Plucking the Apples of the Hesperides.

The obverse of this medal portrays Giovanni Paolo Lomazzo (1538-1600), a Milanese painter and theorist. The reverse shows Lomazzo Presented to Mercury by Fortune.

The inscription around circumference of the obverse: IO[annes] PAVLVS LOMATIVS PIC[tor].

The inscription around right circumference of the reverse: VTRIVSQVE.

Annibale Fontana created this wax model, perhaps in part for the patron’s approval, while preparing a sculpture for the Church of Santa Maria presso San Celso in Milan. The angel was mounted high on the facade, so the composition needed to be impeccably balanced as well as legible from the ground. Wings and a trumpet appear in the final work, but Fontana here concentrates on the deep folds, clinging drapery, and forceful pose.

The picture shows a relief on the fa�ade of Santa Maria dei Miracoli presso San Celso.

Annibale Fontana was the most distinguished Milanese sculptor in the third quarter of the sixteenth century, and his most distinguished sculptural complex was the fa�ade of Santa Maria dei Miracoli presso San Celso. Designed by Galeazzo Alessi and completed in 1572, the fa�ade made provision for a central relief over the main entrance, lateral reliefs over the two doorways at the sides, four figures in superimposed niche at the sides, and four small reliefs in the upper register, as well as for two sibyls on the pediment above the entrance and an Annunciation group above. Beside the lateral doorways were statues of Adam and Eve.

The first sculptor working on the fa�ade was Stoldo di Gino Lorenzi, who delivered Adam in 1575, three years later completed the Annunciation, both redolent of Florentine academism. He also made the central relief of Nativity. Apparently due to differences with Annibale Fontana, with whom he shared the commission, Stoldo returned to Tuscany in 1582, and the other parts of the fa�ade were executed by Annibale Fontane.

Annibale Fontana worked on the fa�ade of Santa Maria dei Miracoli from 1575 to 1587: he made the statues of the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah for the lower niches, the two Sibyls on the main portal, the reliefs with the Adoration of the Shepherds, the Presentation in the Temple and the Wedding at Cana, the statue of the prophet Zechariah in the upper niche, two Angels of the fastigium.

Returning to Milan in 1574, Annibale Fontana worked in the workshop of Santa Maria dei Miracoli presso San Celso. Additions to the fifteenth-century church were important elements of the development of Milan in the sixteenth century in the years of the archbishopric of Carlo Borromeo. From 1572 the main architect of the workshop was Martino Bassi (1542-1591) whose activity concentrated in particular on the fa�ade and on the altar of the miraculous effigy, which also represented the main fulcrum of Fontana’s activity.

The massive eclectic and Mannerist style fa�ade was designed by Galeazzo Alessi in the late 16th century and was realized by Martino Bassi; it is decorated by numerous statues and reliefs by Stoldo Lorenzi and Annibale Fontana.

Annibale Fontana worked on the fa�ade of the church from 1575 to 1587: he made the statues of the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah for the lower niches, the two Sibyls on the main portal, the reliefs with the Adoration of the Shepherds, the Presentation in the Temple and the Wedding at Cana, the statue of the prophet Zechariah in the upper niche, two Angels of the fastigium.

In the 1580s, Fontana worked in the area of the presbytery of the church. Of his hand are the marble Assumption on the altar of the miraculous Madonna, the statue of St. John the Evangelist, placed opposite, and the two silver reliefs with the Birth of Mary and the Dormitio Virginis for the altar frontal.

Returning to Milan in 1574, Annibale Fontana worked in the workshop of Santa Maria dei Miracoli presso San Celso. Additions to the fifteenth-century church were important elements of the development of Milan in the sixteenth century in the years of the archbishopric of Carlo Borromeo. From 1572 the main architect of the workshop was Martino Bassi (1542-1591) whose activity concentrated in particular on the fa�ade and on the altar of the miraculous effigy, which also represented the main fulcrum of Fontana’s activity.

The massive eclectic and Mannerist style fa�ade was designed by Galeazzo Alessi in the late 16th century and was realized by Martino Bassi; it is decorated by numerous statues and reliefs by Stoldo Lorenzi and Annibale Fontana.

Annibale Fontana worked on the fa�ade of the church from 1575 to 1587: he made the statues of the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah for the lower niches, the two Sibyls on the main portal, the reliefs with the Adoration of the Shepherds, the Presentation in the Temple and the Wedding at Cana, the statue of the prophet Zechariah in the upper niche, two Angels of the fastigium.

In the 1580s, Fontana worked in the area of the presbytery of the church. Of his hand are the marble Assumption on the altar of the miraculous Madonna, the statue of St. John the Evangelist, placed opposite, and the two silver reliefs with the Birth of Mary and the Dormitio Virginis for the altar frontal.

In his last work, the Virgin of the Assumption, completed in 1586, a year before his death, Fontana achieved an image of transitory ecstasy which looks forward to the sculptures of Bernini.

The two angels above the Virgin are later additions by Giulio Cesare Procaccini.