VERROCCHIO, Andrea del

On 27 July 1477 Verrocchio was commissioned by the Guild of the Cloth Refiners, which supervised works at the Florentine Baptistery, to execute a silver relief of the Beheading of St John the Baptist for the silver altar in the Baptistery. He had won the commission in a contest in which Antonio del Pollaiuolo also participated, Verrocchio submitting two models, Pollaiuolo three. Verrocchio was subsequently also assigned the task of casting some of the silver figurines for the altar itself. The relief, which is on the right side of the antependium of the altar, is Verrocchio’s only extant work in silver on such a small scale. It is also the only surviving sculptural project that he carried out in two different techniques: low relief for the architectural background and modelling in the round for the human figures.

The famous silver altar of the Baptistery was originated in 1366. The side plates were added between 1477 and 1480.

This bust was made possibly about 1513-20 after a model by Verrocchio.

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.

This bust suffered considerable damage over time which was repaired by modern restorations (most recently in 1988). It is probably modeled on Desiderio da Settignano’s bust of Marietta Strozzi. Verrocchio must have learned the art of marble carving from Desiderio and the most outstanding example of this training is the present bust.

The decorative motifs on the young woman’s sleeves led to the conclusion that she might be identified as a member of the family of the mercenary general Bartolomeo Colleoni, who fathered numerous daughters, both legitimate and illegitimate, including Medea, who died in 1470 at the age of eighteen, and buried in the Colleoni Chapel in Bergamo. This identification is not universally accepted.

Verrocchio worked on this group for the Orsanmichele between 1476 and 1483. The figure of Christ was executed at about 1477-78, while that of Thomas at 1482-83.

Verrocchio tailored his composition to a niche originally designed by Donatello for a single figure (his St Louis). There was no precedent for the subject in the three-dimensional tradition, yet Verrocchio solved the problems magnificently, abandoning symmetry by placing St Thomas on the extreme left, projecting out of the niche. Thus the viewer enters the composition via the diagonal of St Thomas’s foot overlapping the ledge. The gestures of the figures inextricably bind them together. Christ’s upraised hand is traditional in this scene but Verrocchio has modified it to resemble both a blessing and a baptism. Even the drapery evokes the two personalities: the majestic folds of Christ’s garment contrast with the more agitated cloth of the saint who doubted Christ’s resurrection.

Verrocchio’s interest in physiognomy and expressive drapery was passed on to Leonardo. Indeed, there is a a striking resemblance between Verrocchio’s Christ and Leonardo’s in The Last Supper (c. 1494). It has been suggested that Leonardo worked on Christ’s head for the sculpture, although it is more likely that he adopted Verrocchio’s type for the painting.

The stone niche is the work of Donatello and Michelozzo.

When the group was removed for safekeeping during World War II, it was discovered that the figures have no backs; seen from behind they are hollow shells of bronze.

View images of the exterior sculptural decoration of Orsanmichele.

In interpreting the subject, Verrocchio clearly anted to bring out the emotional intensity of the moment when Christ invites Thomas to prove his identity by touching the wound in his side. Thomas stands slightly outside the niche, overlapping the left column, and seems to be moving inward toward Christ, who is posed on an elevated base.

View images of the exterior sculptural decoration of Orsanmichele.

The Incredulity of Thomas was commissioned by the Tribunale di Mercanzia to replace Donatello’s St Louis of Toulouse (1423; Museo dell’Opera di Santa Croce, Florence) in a niche on the exterior east wall of Orsanmichele, and the choice of Verrocchio to contribute to the sculptural decoration of a building already enriched by works of the great early Renaissance sculptors suggests his growing prestige. The challenge of creating a dramatic ensemble rather than sculpting single figures of one or two of the guild’s patron saints encouraged him to take an original approach.

In a composition inspired by a mosaic of the Incredulity of Thomas (c. 1200; San Marco, Venice), he placed the figure of Christ in the middle of the frame on an elevated step and that of the apostle outside and below it to the left. Such an alignment allowed him to retain the prescribed sizes of the figures without overcrowding the relatively narrow space allotted to them. More interestingly, it enabled him to stage the emotionally charged encounter between the two on a diagonal and thereby create a dynamic instead of a static picture. Compositionally and dramatically, the axis of the scene is the wound that Christ exposes with his upraised arm, on one side, and his hand, which holds open the tear in the garment, on the other. St Thomas’s tentatively outstretched right hand and his intense gaze lead the spectator towards this focal-point and into the niche.

The figures form a united and balanced picture, although the figure of Christ was cast several years before that of St Thomas, which was completed only in 1483. Christ’s draperies are sharper and less flowing than those of St Thomas, the facial features more elongated and the posture less graceful.

In 1479 the Venetian authorities had decided to erect a monument to the mercenary Bartolomeo Colleoni of Bergamo who had died in 1475, leaving funds for an equestrian in his honour. He naively stipulated that it be sited in Piazza S. Marco, too prominent a place for this potentially dangerous symbol of power. Instead the authorities decided cleverly to put it before the remote Scuola di S. Marco. A competition was held and Verrocchio sent a life-size wax model of the horse in 1483. It was unfinished at his death in 1488, although he had completed the figure and horse in clay. In his will, he enjoined his pupil Lorenzo di Credi to finish it, but this responsibility was transferred in 1490 to the Venetian bronze caster Alessandro Leopardi (who designed the base and signed on the horse’s girth).

Verrocchio s monument of Colleoni scarcely differs from older equestrian monuments which cities commissioned during the 15th century to honour the outstanding services rendered by their condottiere, such as Donatello’s Gattamelata in Padua. Both depictions have a more or less similar position of rider and horse, derived from the most famous equestrian monument of the age, the classical Roman equestrian monument of Marcus Aurelius. The most obvious difference between these images of brute power resides in the torsion of Verrocchio’s, Donatello’s being confined to a plane. Colleoni stands erect in his stirrups to regard his enemy in violent contrapposto, while his horse turns and raises one hoof without support. (Verrocchio’s is technically more advanced.) His war machine, embodying belligerent force, is dressed in contemporary armour, whereas Gattamelata wears pseudo-antique armour. Donatello’s image is calm, abstract, dignified and universal; Verrocchio’s is specific, vigorous and dynamically active. The grimly determined visage with its furrowed brow, staring eyes and intense expression may have influenced the ‘terribilità’ of Michelangelo’s David.

From the close of the 1470s until his death, Verrocchio devoted most of his time and energy to the planning and casting of the colossal bronze monument to Bartolomeo Colleoni. The condottiere Colleoni had bequeathed part of his wealth to the Venetian state, with the provision that a bronze equestrian statue should be erected to his memory. Verrocchio took part in the competition for the commission, and prepared a true-to-life, life-size wooden model covered with black leather. He was awarded the commission in 1480, and probably in 1486 went to Venice to supervise the statue’s execution. In 1488 Leopardi was commissioned to cast the sculpture, and it was erected in 1494.

The monument crowned Verrocchio’s career and is the most forceful of 15th-century equestrian monuments. Inspired more by Venetian precedents than by Florentine counterparts, it is a realistic depiction of a contemporary and ferocious condottiere. It differs from previous famous representations in being, typically for Verrocchio, an animated rather than a static group. The conception of the rider and horse is based on Andrea del Castagno’s fresco of Niccolò da Tolentino and on the unattributed early 15th-century equestrian monument to Paolo Savelli (d. 1405).

In 1479 the Venetian authorities had decided to erect a monument to the mercenary Bartolomeo Colleoni of Bergamo who had died in 1475, leaving funds for an equestrian in his honour. He naively stipulated that it be sited in Piazza S. Marco, too prominent a place for this potentially dangerous symbol of power. Instead the authorities decided cleverly to put it before the remote Scuola di S. Marco. A competition was held and Verrocchio sent a life-size wax model of the horse in 1483. It was unfinished at his death in 1488, although he had completed the figure and horse in clay. In his will, he enjoined his pupil Lorenzo di Credi to finish it, but this responsibility was transferred in 1490 to the Venetian bronze caster Alessandro Leopardi (who designed the base and signed on the horse’s girth).

In 1479 the Venetian authorities had decided to erect a monument to the mercenary Bartolomeo Colleoni of Bergamo who had died in 1475, leaving funds for an equestrian in his honour. He naively stipulated that it be sited in Piazza S. Marco, too prominent a place for this potentially dangerous symbol of power. Instead the authorities decided cleverly to put it before the remote Scuola di S. Marco. A competition was held and Verrocchio sent a life-size wax model of the horse in 1483. It was unfinished at his death in 1488, although he had completed the figure and horse in clay. In his will, he enjoined his pupil Lorenzo di Credi to finish it, but this responsibility was transferred in 1490 to the Venetian bronze caster Alessandro Leopardi (who designed the base and signed on the horse’s girth).

Bartolomeo Colleoni (1400-1475) was an Italian condottiero, who became captain-general of the Republic of Venice. He recaptured many towns and districts for Venice from the Milanese, and won battles at Brescia, Verona, and on the Lake of Garda.

Cosimo di Giovanni de’ Medici, called “the Elder” (Italian: il Vecchio) and posthumously “Father of the Fatherland” (Latin: pater patriae) (1389-1464), was an Italian banker and politician, the first member of the Medici family which effectively ruled Florence during much of the Italian Renaissance. His tomb is located in a crypt below the Basilica di San Lorenzo in Florence.

Upon the death in 1464 of Cosimo il Vecchio, Verrocchio was commissioned to create his floor tomb in the church of San Lorenzo. The vast sepulcher, unprecedented in Florentine tomb sculpture for its scale and magnificence, consists of an abstract patterned floor slab in front of the high altar connecting to a burial chamber in the crypt beneath. The artist used valuable materials—bronze, marble, red porphyry and green serpentine stones—to suggest Cosimo’s prestige. Interlocking ellipses within a circle and square evoke medieval diagrams of the universe, associating the name of Cosimo with the cosmos.

Verrocchio was equally skilled in a variety of media and often approached one medium as he would another. His training as a goldsmith reveals itself in his love of polychromy, and the tomb of Cosimo de’ Medici in white marble and red and green porphyry is distinguished by the richness and colour of the materials. This was developed in the tomb of Piero I and Giovanni de’ Medici (San Lorenzo, Florence), where the combination of a variety of coloured stones with bronze decoration is strikingly original.

The picture shows the floor tomb of Cosimo il Vecchio in the nave of Basilica di San Lorenzo, Florence.

Verrocchio, a favourite artist of the Medici, may have created this lively and commanding portrait on the occasion of a joust that took place in 1475 in Florence for Giuliano de’ Medici’s coming of age. The bust was originally painted and possibly adorned with a metal helmet and other decoration, projecting an exuberance especially evident in the winged face modeled on Giuliano’s fanciful armor. The beloved younger brother of the de facto ruler of Florence, Lorenzo the Magnificent, Giuliano was destined for an important future, a hope cut off by his dramatic murder during mass in Florence’s cathedral, on April 26, 1478, in an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow Medici rule.

The terracotta bust has a complicated state of preservation. Once polychromed, it has suffered a number of breaks over time that were repaired either with the original fragments or with plaster.

The attribution to Verrocchio, based on the text by Vasari, is uncertain.

Just as the painted profile portrait developed into a three-quarter view around 1470, Verrocchio continued to transform the sculpted bust. His sitter holds a nosegay of flowers to her bosom in a very romantic pose; she is shown to below the waist, including her two hands, implying interaction with the viewer. This innovation was clearly not lost on Verrocchio’s pupil, who would exploit its potential as well as its luminosity in his painted portrait. Indeed the sitter of this bust has sometimes been identified as Ginevra dei Benci, the subject of a Leonardo portrait. However, although withoit proof, it is generally assumed she is Lucrezia Donati.

Lucrezia Donati was one of the mistresses of the Medici, perhaps, one of Lorenzo the Magnificent’s who had the longest tenure. She is immortalized here by Verrocchio as Woman with a Bouquet. An absolutely extraordinary work in particular because, and this is what the Florentines admired the most, the beauty of her hands. They have this jointless quality, or one that transcends joints; Botticelli would immortalize the same qualities in his painting. It should not be forgotten that Botticelli and Verrocchio were very friendly.

This is one of the most beautiful of the Florentine busts.

Just as the painted profile portrait developed into a three-quarter view around 1470, Verrocchio continued to transform the sculpted bust. His sitter holds a nosegay of flowers to her bosom in a very romantic pose; she is shown to below the waist, including her two hands, implying interaction with the viewer. This innovation was clearly not lost on Verrocchio’s pupil, who would exploit its potential as well as its luminosity in his painted portrait. Indeed the sitter of this bust has sometimes been identified as Ginevra dei Benci, the subject of a Leonardo portrait. However, although withoit proof, it is generally assumed she is Lucrezia Donati.

Lucrezia Donati was one of the mistresses of the Medici, perhaps, one of Lorenzo the Magnificent’s who had the longest tenure. She is immortalized here by Verrocchio as Woman with a Bouquet. An absolutely extraordinary work in particular because, and this is what the Florentines admired the most, the beauty of her hands. They have this jointless quality, or one that transcends joints; Botticelli would immortalize the same qualities in his painting. It should not be forgotten that Botticelli and Verrocchio were very friendly.

This is one of the most beautiful of the Florentine busts.

The marble Lady with Primroses (also Woman Holding Flowers) is almost unanimously recognized as an authentic work from the late 1470s. Its format, a half-figure bust, including arms and hands, was unusual at that date and recalls that of a specific type of antique statue used to depict Roman officials. It enabled the artist to endow his subject with a regal stance and demeanour and to show aristocratic hands with long, elegant fingers. Of special note is the hair with its side-curled ends, the faint trace of a smile and the finely detailed clinging dress, tied at the waist.

The bust was admired by Florentines the most for the beauty of her hands. They have this jointless quality, or one that transcends joints; Botticelli would immortalize the same qualities in his painting. It should not be forgotten that Botticelli and Verrocchio were very friendly.

The detail shows the right hand of the portrait bust.

The bust was admired by Florentines the most for the beauty of her hands. They have this jointless quality, or one that transcends joints; Botticelli would immortalize the same qualities in his painting. It should not be forgotten that Botticelli and Verrocchio were very friendly.

The detail shows the left hand of the portrait bust.

Although clearly revealing the large participation of his workshop, the intricate composition of the altarpiece is the product of Verrocchio’s careful planning.

Verrocchio’s inclination to aggrandize the human figure at the expense of the background does not appear to typify the paintings completed later in his life. In the documented altarpiece of the Virgin and Child with Sts John the Baptist and Donatus in Pistoia Cathedral, commissioned in 1474 by Bishop Donato de’ Medici and executed almost entirely by Lorenzo di Credi, the different elements - protagonists, architecture and scenery - acquire a balance that is lacking in the Baptism, the Virgin and Child and Tobias and the Angel. They are interrelated in size and proportions to create a unity where no detail, no matter how important, overshadows another.

The composition consists of three spatial tiers, beginning with the plane close to the spectator where the saints are seen standing, proceeding through an elaborate throne in which the Virgin and the infant are seated in mid-ground, and ending with a rich view of mountains, forests and winding paths at the back. Within a triangular alignment that brings the figures together both formally and emotionally, a series of subtle relationships emerges. St Donatus, on the right, gazes at St John the Baptist, on the left, who looks at us while pointing his finger at the Christ Child. The seated mother and infant draw our attention back to the standing saints. Whereas the Virgin’s legs project towards St Donatus, her face turns to St John the Baptist, who appears to gain more prominence as the infant’s blessing is directed at him as well. Regular and irregular forms blend into a harmonious whole. The severe lines that define the architecture in horizontal and vertical parallels contrast with the undulating lines that separate the landscape from the sky. Likewise, the harsh and angular surface of the marble is juxtaposed with the soft texture and round shapes of the leaves and flowers.

While appearing a bit austere, Verrocchio incorporated the motifs that had modern appeal: the most recent architecture, still-life elements, a carefully modulated tile floor, and the beautiful oriental carpet down below with the fringes hanging over the last step.

The monument was commissioned from Verrocchio by the commune of Pistoia in 1476 and the present model was probably prepared that time. Verrocchio’s free handling of the clay is masterful, with some areas sketchy and others more precisely worked.

The terracotta shows the figure of Christ in a mandorla supported by four flying angels. Beneath is a figure representing Charity. Below Faith holds a chalice. She moves towards the Cardinal, who is shown kneeling on a sarcophagus, with the figure of Hope to the right.

The upper part of the existing marble monument in Pistoia Cathedral varies in detail from the model. Verrocchio worked with his assistants on the monument but did not complete it before he left for Venice in 1483. It was not erected until 1514, long after his death. The figure of Charity was carved by Lorenzetto in 1514.

In 1753 the monument was moved and modified. At this time a bust replaced the figure of the kneeling cardinal, which is now in the Museo Civico, Pistoia.

The monument was commissioned from Verrocchio by the commune of Pistoia in 1476 and the present model was probably prepared that time. Verrocchio’s free handling of the clay is masterful, with some areas sketchy and others more precisely worked.

The terracotta shows the figure of Christ in a mandorla supported by four flying angels. Beneath is a figure representing Charity. Below Faith holds a chalice. She moves towards the Cardinal, who is shown kneeling on a sarcophagus, with the figure of Hope to the right.

The upper part of the existing marble monument in Pistoia Cathedral varies in detail from the model. Verrocchio worked with his assistants on the monument but did not complete it before he left for Venice in 1483. It was not erected until 1514, long after his death. The figure of Charity was carved by Lorenzetto in 1514.

In 1753 the monument was moved and modified. At this time a bust replaced the figure of the kneeling cardinal, which is now in the Museo Civico, Pistoia.

In 1477, after a contest in which he and three other sculptors submitted models, Verrocchio undertook to carve the marble cenotaph for Cardinal Niccolò Forteguerri for Pistoia Cathedral. His relationship with the authorities was difficult and may have caused the lengthy delays that resulted in the monument remaining unfinished at his death.

The Forteguerri cenotaph displays the only extant monumental figure designed by Verrocchio in marble. The work is now much altered, yet its original appearance can be deduced from a terracotta model (Victoria and Albert Museum, London), probably by Verrocchio, for the complete monument. This presents Christ in majesty within a mandorla, carried by four angels, in the upper part, and, below, Niccolò Forteguerri, surrounded by a triangle of the three cardinal virtues: Faith, Hope and Charity. Its iconographical and formal schema are traditional.

In the completed monument, seven of the nine figures exhibited in the lunette framework - Christ, the four angels supporting the mandorla, and Faith and Hope - are recorded as having been carved in Verrocchio’s workshop. The work was completed by Lorenzetto and Giovanni Francesco Rustici and then in 1753 disastrously given a Baroque character by Gaetano Masoni.

Niccolò Forteguerri (1419-1473), nephew of Pope Pius II, was a legate, general and cardinal of the Roman Catholic church. Upon his death, his remains were interred with another monument in the church of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere in Rome; but his posthumous patronage and endowments, which included the Biblioteca Forteguerriana and an allied school in Pistoia, prompted his town to honor his memory with a local monument.

The detail shows one of the three cardinal virtues surrounding Niccolò Forteguerri.

The detail shows one of the three cardinal virtues surrounding Niccolò Forteguerri.

The detail shows Christ in majesty within a mandorla, carried by four angels.

Verrocchio designed this sculpture with multiple points of view for a fountain at the Medici villa at Careggi. It is an early example of the resuscitation of the ancient fountain, with water issuing from a spout in the dolphin’s mouth. The putto poses in a precarious but graceful arabesque on top of a partial sphere, his body turned in gentle contrapposto.

This dynamic relief depicting the Resurrection was executed by Verrocchio for the Medicean villa of Careggi.

Italian sculptor, painter and goldsmith. He started his training in the workshop of goldsmith Giuliano de Verrocchio, this is the origin of his name. With his bronze sculpture he developed the heritage of Donatello. Among his pupils the best are Leonardo da Vinci and Lorenzo di Credi.

The Sleeping Youth was inspired by the Hellenistic Dying Gaul (Musei Capitolini, Rome), yet it was also studied from life and shows a specific state of mind. The boy, recumbent and asleep, may represent both innocence and relaxation. His smooth face, firm chest and bony limbs are the attributes of his tender years, while his closed eyes, the head leaning on the right arm, the dreamy face, and the drooping hands invoke an atmosphere of withdrawal and tranquillity. It is not clear whether the figure was destined to form part of a sculptural group, and it has been suggested that it was prepared as a model for the young soldier in the Resurrection (Bargello, Florence), a polychrome terracotta relief associated either with Verrocchio or his workshop.

Literally enlightened, the features of the ascetic Jerome appears sculpted by his intellectual and spiritual efforts. The unusual red halo refers to his customary identification as a cardinal. The picture may be a highly finished preparatory work for a larger painting.

The study of St Jerome is an important example of the artistic techniques of Renaissance-era Florentine workshops, where drawing, often enhanced with brush strokes, was an essential tool for representing real life and developing compositions. In the painting in the Palatine Gallery, the difference between the masterful depiction of the head and neck compared to the chest has led to the presumption that the drawing was enlarged and combined at a later date.

Commissioned by the monastery church of San Salvi in Florence, where remained until 1530, the picture was executed in the workshop of Andrea del Verrocchio, whose style is well defined by the figures of Christ and Baptist. The special fame of the work is however due to the Verrocchio’s pupil who helped him paint the picture: in the blond angel on the left and in the landscape above is in fact recognizable the hand of Leonardo, the very young Leonardo, present in Verrocchio’s workshop around 1470. Some critics ascribe the second angel to another young Florentine artist, Sandro Botticelli.

St John the Baptist baptizes Jesus by pouring water over his head. The extended arms of God, the golden rays, the dove with outstretched wings and the cruciform nimbus show that Jesus is the Son of God and part of the Trinity. Two angels on the riverbank are holding Jesus’ garment. The composition is attributed to Verrocchio, although there can be no definite answer as to which artist produced it.

St John the Baptist is holding a slender cross and a scroll inscribed with the announcement of the Saviour’s advent: ECCE AGNUS DEI [QUI TOLLIT PECCATA MUNDI] (“Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” Gospel according to John 1, 29).

In the mid-16th century, historian, Giorgio Vasari narrates that for the execution of the painting, Andrea del Verrocchio was helped by a young pupil, Leonardo, who painted the figure of the angel on the left with such skill that he upset the older Verrocchio. Current studies are orientated towards considering Leonardo’s interventions to be more extensive, including the charming riparian landscape, golden light and the figure of Christ.

The gentle modelling of the left angel’s head and the fact that the paint at this point contains oil supports the general attribution of this section to Leonardo. The painting was probably produced for the church of San Salvi in Florence and was mentioned as early as 1510 by Albertini, who stated that Leonardo painted the angel’s head. A drawing of the angel’s head is kept in Turin.

The image of John the Baptist is the portion of this altarpiece that is most characteristic of Verrocchio’s personal style, and he probably painted it without the participation of his collaborators. An insistence on the anatomical attention to bones, muscles and tendons reflects Verrocchio’s interests, which he passed on to his pupils. The head is rendered almost academically, with the bones of the skull still implied, while the beard reveals a more naturalistic interest.

This painting, together with its pair The Triumph of Aemilius Paulus, belonged to a cassone. They depict two episodes from the history of the Roman commander Lucius Aemilius Paulus in the second century BCE, specifically the battle of Pydna, which decided the outcome of the third Macedonian war, and the triumphal march of Aemilius Paulus. The two scenes were inspired by Petrarch Trionfi and are set in Florence of the second half of the fifteenth century. The panels were executed in the workshop of Andrea del Verrocchio with the contribution of the young Leonardo da Vinci.

This statue was commissioned by the Medici family and it was sold by them in 1476 to the Signoria, the ruling body of Florence, and placed in the Palazzo Vecchio, thus gaining a republican meaning similar to Donatello’s David. Here the similarity ends. There is no doubt that Verrocchio’s proud hero was capable of slaying the giant. The explicitness and angularity contrast with the ambiguity and sensuousness of Donatello’s - nude and vulnerable while Verrocchio’s is elegantly clothed. He carries a small sword in one hand and, with his other confidently poised on his hip, looks triumphantly out at the viewer. The figure, to be viewed in the round, lacks the anatomical exaggerations and the psychological implications or complexity of Donatello’s. It is, rather, perfectly chased and was meant to be appreciated for its exquisite patina.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 11 minutes):

Johann Kuhnau: The Fight between David and Goliath (No. 1 of the 6 Stories from the Bible illustrated in music)

This statue was commissioned by the Medici family and it was sold by them in 1476 to the Signoria, the ruling body of Florence, and placed in the Palazzo Vecchio, thus gaining a republican meaning similar to Donatello’s David. Here the similarity ends. There is no doubt that Verrocchio’s proud hero was capable of slaying the giant. The explicitness and angularity contrast with the ambiguity and sensuousness of Donatello’s - nude and vulnerable while Verrocchio’s is elegantly clothed. He carries a small sword in one hand and, with his other confidently poised on his hip, looks triumphantly out at the viewer. The figure, to be viewed in the round, lacks the anatomical exaggerations and the psychological implications or complexity of Donatello’s. It is, rather, perfectly chased and was meant to be appreciated for its exquisite patina.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 11 minutes):

Johann Kuhnau: The Fight between David and Goliath (No. 1 of the 6 Stories from the Bible illustrated in music)

Verrocchio’s bronze David, finely and precisely detailed, has the quality of a small and precious object, admired more for its delicacy than for its dramatic impact. It suggests Verrocchio’s skill as goldsmith first and sculptor second.

Verrocchio’s David stands, calm and relaxed, over the massive head of Goliath. As a goldsmith and silversmith, Verrocchio used an assemblage technique, a method favoured in the 14th century. The silver Beheading of St John the Baptist contains many separately cast elements; the kneeling saint, his executioners and the soldiers. He also used the same process for his larger-scale statues, casting different parts of free-standing statues and reliefs separately. The David was cast in two sections: the figure of the hero and the severed head of Goliath; the figures were extensively chiselled after casting.

This painting is accepted by most critics as an autograph painting by Andrea del Verrocchio from the late 1470s. However, it is displayed in the National Gallery as a workshop production.

The blind old man Tobit, a merchant and devout Jew, sent his son, Tobias, on a long journey to collect a debt. God sent the Archangel Raphael - the winged figure on the left of the scene - to accompany Tobias and his dog. Tobias carries a fish that he has gutted; Raphael holds its organs in a little box, explaining they could be used as ointment to cure blindness.

Tobias and Raphael’s journey was very popular in the late fifteenth century when devotion to the Archangel, known as Saint Raphael, was promoted by a number of confraternities dedicated to him. Verrocchio’s painting shows close relationship with an earlier Tobias painting by Antonio Pollaiolo.

Cosimo di Giovanni de’ Medici, called “the Elder” (Italian: il Vecchio) and posthumously “Father of the Fatherland” (Latin: pater patriae) (1389-1464), was an Italian banker and politician, the first member of the Medici family which effectively ruled Florence during much of the Italian Renaissance. His tomb is located in a crypt below the Basilica di San Lorenzo in Florence.

Upon the death in 1464 of Cosimo il Vecchio, Verrocchio was commissioned to create his floor tomb in the church of San Lorenzo. The vast sepulcher, unprecedented in Florentine tomb sculpture for its scale and magnificence, consists of an abstract patterned floor slab in front of the high altar connecting to a burial chamber in the crypt beneath. The artist used valuable materials—bronze, marble, red porphyry and green serpentine stones—to suggest Cosimo’s prestige. Interlocking ellipses within a circle and square evoke medieval diagrams of the universe, associating the name of Cosimo with the cosmos.

Verrocchio was equally skilled in a variety of media and often approached one medium as he would another. His training as a goldsmith reveals itself in his love of polychromy, and the tomb of Cosimo de’ Medici in white marble and red and green porphyry is distinguished by the richness and colour of the materials. This was developed in the tomb of Piero I and Giovanni de’ Medici (San Lorenzo, Florence), where the combination of a variety of coloured stones with bronze decoration is strikingly original.

The picture shows the tomb of Cosimo il Vecchio in the crypt below the floor tomb in the Basilica di San Lorenzo, Florence.

This is Verrocchio’s first major sculpture, the tomb of Piero and Giovanni Medici, the sons of Cosimo, ordered by Lorenzo and Giuliano. Although related to earlier Florentine sepulchral monuments, it departs from the figurated tombs in white marble which had been popular during mid-century. It was made of the same materials as the pavement above Cosimo’s tomb to stress the dinasty. Appropriately, it is double-sided - in an arch between the Old Sacristy and the former Chapel of Sacrament - and thus a significant step towards freestanding tomb. Its understated imagery and elegant decoration are representative of the late fifteenth-century art.

This is Verrocchio’s first major sculpture, the tomb of Piero and Giovanni Medici, the sons of Cosimo, ordered by Lorenzo and Giuliano. Although related to earlier Florentine sepulchral monuments, it departs from the figurated tombs in white marble which had been popular during mid-century. It was made of the same materials as the pavement above Cosimo’s tomb to stress the dinasty. Appropriately, it is double-sided - in an arch between the Old Sacristy and the former Chapel of Sacrament - and thus a significant step towards freestanding tomb. Its understated imagery and elegant decoration are representative of the late fifteenth-century art.

Verrocchio was a great sculptor as well as painter, one who also worked in relief and in precious metals. Such versatility is found even in two dimensions, for the painter’s Madonna and Child has a sense of the oblique, of outreach and exchange. Exploration of landscape and an equally keen concern for light’s passage and of chiaroscuro are often part of the painter-sculptor’s concerns. Here, fascination for mysterious coils of drapery and twisted veils, for the dynamic found even in the row of ties along Mary’s sleeve, bespeak a new role for the artist, one enhanced by technical variety and virtuosity.

The attribution of this painting remains controversial.

The preparatory work for sculpture that was produced in Verrocchio’s workshop included bozzetti in wax or clay, terracotta modelli and drawings; bozzetti were also used to win contracts from prospective clients. It is not always clear whether Verrocchio’s terracottas were intended as independent works or as modelli; the present terracotta relief of the Virgin and Child has a marble studio variant in the same museum.

The focus of this picture is the loving gaze which passes between the Christ Child and his mother, the Virgin Mary. The infant is carried to her by two angels; he reaches urgently towards her as she holds out her breast for him, tenderly grabbing her little finger between his.

The trim of the Virgin’s rich blue cloak is painted with fine brushstrokes to imitate the sheen of the gold thread with which it is embroidered; it is further embellished with precious gems. The walls of the courtyard are made of colourful marble, represented by splashes of multicoloured paint, suggesting the splendour of the place.

This picture was long thought to be a derivation by an unidentified Florentine painter of a design first used by Filippo Lippi. Recent technical examination shows that it is likely to have been one of the first pictures painted by the Florentine artist Verrocchio, who trained as a goldsmith.

Verrocchio had a large and active studio in Florence, and trained many artists who would become leading figures in the Florentine Renaissance, including Botticelli and Leonardo da Vinci. He usually collaborated closely with his students, giving them the opportunity to work on important parts of a painting.

Here, recent technical analysis has shown that he allowed his student Lorenzo di Credi to paint the chubby Christ Child, the parted curtains and the angel on the right. Looking at the hands of the two angels we can see that Lorenzo was more concerned with painting flesh, while Verocchio wanted to show the definition of the joints beneath – an interest that related perhaps to his other practice as a sculptor.

Verrocchio trained as a goldsmith and has used real gold leaf, such as on the fringe of the left angel’s sleeve, and yellow paint, for example on the Virgin’s sleeves, to recreate the effect of gold – a technique derived from northern European artists to show various degrees of shine.