RUSTICI, Giovanni Francesco

The model of this statuette was made c. 1515, at the time when Cardinal Giulio de’ Medici commissioned a bronze statuette of Mercury for a fountain in the Palazzo Medici, Florence. The statuette was cast possibly in mid-16th century.

This statue, also called “Jason Slaying the Dragon” was installed at the Château de Meudon in the 18th century, then in the park at Saint-Cloud from 1802 to 1872. It is attributed to Giovanni Francesco Rustici.

At the Villa Salviati on the outskirts of Florence, the courtyard is decorated with a series of large roundels in terracotta by Rustici, many of which are derived (like the corresponding cycle in the Palazzo Medici, Florence) from Classical sources, while several recall designs by Leonardo.

Vasari recorded that Rustici modelled in terracotta some groups of horses with men on or under them, and several survive (Bargello and Palazzo Vecchio, Florence; Louvre, Paris). They recall studies made by Leonardo da Vinci for his fresco of the Battle of Anghiari; some have scowling faces that closely reflect his studies of faces distorted by the rage of battle.

Vasari recorded that Rustici modelled in terracotta some groups of horses with men on or under them, and several survive (Bargello and Palazzo Vecchio, Florence; Louvre, Paris). They recall studies made by Leonardo da Vinci for his fresco of the Battle of Anghiari; some have scowling faces that closely reflect his studies of faces distorted by the rage of battle.

Vasari recorded that Rustici modelled in terracotta some groups of horses with men on or under them, and several survive (Bargello and Palazzo Vecchio, Florence; Louvre, Paris). They recall studies made by Leonardo da Vinci for his fresco of the Battle of Anghiari; some have scowling faces that closely reflect his studies of faces distorted by the rage of battle.

Vasari recorded that Rustici modelled in terracotta some groups of horses with men on or under them, and several survive (Bargello and Palazzo Vecchio, Florence; Louvre, Paris). They recall studies made by Leonardo da Vinci for his fresco of the Battle of Anghiari; some have scowling faces that closely reflect his studies of faces distorted by the rage of battle.

This terracotta model shows a knight defending himself against four foot-soldiers. It is a free interpretation of Leonardo’s studies of soldiers fighting.

Vasari recorded that Rustici modelled in terracotta some groups of horses with men on or under them, and several survive (Bargello and Palazzo Vecchio, Florence; Louvre, Paris). They recall studies made by Leonardo da Vinci for his fresco of the Battle of Anghiari; some have scowling faces that closely reflect his studies of faces distorted by the rage of battle.

This terracotta model shows a knight defending himself against four foot-soldiers. It is a free interpretation of Leonardo’s studies of soldiers fighting.

Probably because his social position made him more independent than the average artist, few of Rustici’s works are documented, although many have been identified from descriptions by Vasari, corroborated by stylistic comparisons. The earliest is a tightly designed marble bust of Giovanni Boccaccio, cowled and clasping a volume of his works, datable to 1503 . This is a competent portrait, made long after the death of the subject, and hence largely imaginary.

The bust was commissioned in 1503 by Vicar Lattanzio Tedaldi, and placed over the cenotaph of Boccaccio.

Probably because his social position made him more independent than the average artist, few of Rustici’s works are documented, although many have been identified from descriptions by Vasari, corroborated by stylistic comparisons. The earliest is a tightly designed marble bust of Giovanni Boccaccio, cowled and clasping a volume of his works, datable to 1503 . This is a competent portrait, made long after the death of the subject, and hence largely imaginary.

The bust was commissioned in 1503 by Vicar Lattanzio Tedaldi, and placed over the cenotaph of Boccaccio.

At the Villa Salviati on the outskirts of Florence, the courtyard is decorated with a series of large roundels in terracotta by Rustici, many of which are derived (like the corresponding cycle in the Palazzo Medici, Florence) from Classical sources, while several recall designs by Leonardo.

The panel depicts the Conversion of the Roman citizen Saul, later St Paul. He appears as if just thrown to the ground, lying under the rear legs of the white charger at the centre. No halo is visible, but the yellow glowing light at the top centre of the painting appears to represent the impact of the divine light which struck Saul blind and made him fall from his horse while on his way with his soldiers to Damascus to persecute Christians. On the ground, Saul’s helmet and a cuirass are scattered around him.

This work demonstrates the impact of Leonardo’s unfinished fresco for the Sala del Gran Consiglio on his contemporaries. In the group at the centre of the panel, Rustici has reinterpreted the main scene of Leonardo’s Battle of Anghiari as a Conversion, probably with reference to Leonardo’s preparatory drawings.

This panel has been identified with the work described by Giorgio Vasari as painted by Rustici as a gift for his friend and patron Piero Martelli.

At the Villa Salviati on the outskirts of Florence, the courtyard is decorated with a series of large roundels in terracotta by Rustici, many of which are derived (like the corresponding cycle in the Palazzo Medici, Florence) from Classical sources, while several recall designs by Leonardo.

At the Villa Salviati on the outskirts of Florence, the courtyard is decorated with a series of large roundels in terracotta by Rustici, many of which are derived (like the corresponding cycle in the Palazzo Medici, Florence) from Classical sources, while several recall designs by Leonardo.

According to Vasari, the figure was commissioned in 1515 by Cardinal Giulio de Medici for a fountain in the courtyard of the Palazzo Medici.

The Noli me tangere was modelled by Rustici in the classical style for the monastery of Santa Lucia at Camporeggi, and then glazed in white on a golden yellow ground by Giovanni della Robbia. It is an example of the relations Giovanni della Robbia maintained with sculptors working in Florence in the early Cinquecento. The unique yellow sky distinguishes the work from Giovanni’s own oeuvre.

This group is located over the north entrance of the Baptistery. It was commissioned in 1506 to replace a Trecento sculpture of the same subject by Tino da Camaino. Rustici, of noble birth, was considered by his contemporaries as one of the major sculptors in Tuscany. During the commission Rustici and Leonardo shared a house so it is natural that the older man’s influence should be felt, although his exact role in the work is unknown.

In the group each statue has its own pedestal and is separated by a column. However, St John, the patron saint of the city and building, is emphasized by his central placement and the poses and gazes of the flanking figures, rather like a triptych in the round. Rustici has them looking down to engage with the viewers below. In the Pharisee, whose huge hand clutches his beard, Rustici’s surface treatment is decorative, almost an enlargement of Ghiberti’s. It is really the bald Levite that departs from the slighter, idealized figures of the Quattrocento. His powerful arms resemble those of Michelangelo’s figures on the Sistine ceiling and the bulges and rolls on his forehead extend Verrocchio’s expressive anatomy and reflect Leonardo’s studies of the grotesque. The groups intensity recalls Donatello.

The statues are now replaced by copies, the originals are in the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo.

Vasari wrote that Rustici liked Leonardo’s style, the psychological atmosphere of his faces and the grace of his compositions, and ‘attached himself to him’, learning how to cast bronze, draw in perspective and carve marble, although the last skill was not one that he could have learnt from Leonardo. On his major commission, the St John the Baptist Preaching, Rustici worked closely with the master.

The work comprises three separate bronze statues, designed as a psychologically interactive group, set against the patterned, external wall of the Baptistery, over the north portal. The two artists were guests in the same house at the time, and must have collaborated closely, for the bronze statues are composed, modelled and characterized with all the confidence and vigour of Leonardo. The contrasting heads of John’s audience, Levite and Pharisee, are unforgettable: the one gross and bald (deliberately recalling Donatello’s Habakkuk on the Campanile near by), and the other with a magnificently tousled mane of hair and beard, which he tugs in a gesture of annoyance (like Michelangelo’s slightly later statue of Moses.

The picture shows the original setting of the statues above the north doors of the Baptistery.

Rustici and Leonardo da Vinci were guests in the same house at the time, and must have collaborated closely, for the bronze statues of the group Preaching of St John the Baptist are composed, modelled and characterized with all the confidence and vigour of Leonardo.

This statue represents the Levite, to the right of the Baptist. He is gross and bald, deliberately recalling Donatello’s Habakkuk on the Campanile nearby. His powerful arms resemble those of Michelangelo’s figures on the Sistine ceiling and the bulges and rolls on his forehead extend Verrocchio’s expressive anatomy and reflect Leonardo’s studies of the grotesque.

This statue represents the Pharisee, to the left of the Baptist. He is shown with a magnificently tousled mane of hair and beard, which he tugs in a gesture of annoyance (like Michelangelo’s slightly later statue of Moses.

This shallow relief (rilievo schiacciato) was inspired by Donatello’s work of the same subject dating from a century before, while Rustici borrowed some of its details from paintings by Paolo Uccello and Sandro Botticelli, and evoked antiquity by including the Pantheon. The rearing horse of St George reflects Leonardo’s invention, exemplified by the famous bronze Horse and Rider in Budapest. These sophisticated references were principally addressed to humanists from the sculptor’s circle.

The attribution of this precious alabaster tondo to Rustici is doubtful.

Jesus and the Baptist appear side by side, one burdened already by the cross of Calvary and the symbols of the Passion, the other that touches with the left the shoulder of the companion but raises the right to indicate the sky: the index pointing towards the top highlights the inevitability of the divine will. The lamb crouched on the ground seals the meeting and the harmony between the two children.

The Villa Salviati on the outskirts of Florence is a fourteenth-century building modernized in the early Renaissance in a restrained Michelozzian style for Alamanno Salviati in 1445. It was enlarged in the seventeenth century. Presently it is home of the Historical Archives of the European Union.

The photo shows the courtyard decorated with a series of large roundels in terracotta by Rustici.

The relief is called Fontainebleau Madonna because in the 19th century it was placed over the door of the Saint-Saturnin chapel in the Château de Fontainbleau.

Presumably from the first decade of the 16th century is a roundel of the Virgin and Child with the Infant St John that, according to Vasari, Rustici carved in marble for the guild of silk merchants, the Arte della Seta. It seems to be a commentary on Michelangelo’s marble tondi of the Virgin and Child, especially the one for Taddeo Taddei, but, unlike them, it is fully resolved and carefully finished. It also reflects a 15th-century source, Desiderio da Settignano’s relief of the Virgin and Child, and emulates painted tondi by Raphael.