Editing Sculpture (section)

====Mannerist====
{{main|Mannerism}}
[[File:Devries-mercuriocrop.jpg|thumb|[[Adriaen de Vries]], ''Mercury and Psyche'' [[Northern Mannerist]] life-size bronze, made in 1593 for [[Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor]].]]
As in painting, early Italian [[Mannerist]] sculpture was very largely an attempt to find an original style that would top the achievement of the [[High Renaissance]], which in sculpture essentially meant Michelangelo, and much of the struggle to achieve this was played out in commissions to fill other places in the [[Piazza della Signoria]] in Florence, next to Michelangelo's ''David''. [[Baccio Bandinelli]] took over the project of ''[[Hercules and Cacus]]'' from the master himself, but it was little more popular than it is now, and maliciously compared by [[Benvenuto Cellini]] to "a sack of melons", though it had a long-lasting effect in apparently introducing relief panels on the [[pedestal]] of statues for the first time. Like other works of his, and other Mannerists, it removes far more of the original block than Michelangelo would have done.<ref>Olson, 179–82.</ref>  Cellini's bronze ''[[Perseus with the head of Medusa]]'' is certainly a masterpiece, designed with eight angles of view, another Mannerist characteristic, but is indeed mannered compared to the ''David''s of Michelangelo and Donatello.<ref>Olson, 183–87.</ref>  Originally a goldsmith, his famous gold and enamel [[Cellini Salt Cellar|Salt Cellar]] (1543) was his first sculpture, and shows his talent at its best.<ref>Olson, 182–83.</ref>  As these examples show, the period extended the range of secular subjects for large works beyond portraits, with mythological figures especially favoured; previously these had mostly been found in small works.

Small bronze figures for collector's [[Cabinet (room)|cabinets]], often mythological subjects with nudes, were a popular Renaissance form at which [[Giambologna]], originally [[Flanders|Flemish]] but based in Florence, excelled in the later part of the century, also creating life-size sculptures, of which two joined the collection in the Piazza della Signoria. He and his followers devised elegant elongated examples of the ''[[figura serpentinata]]'', often of two intertwined figures, that were interesting from all angles.<ref>Olson, 194–202.</ref>

<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px">
File:Fontainebleau escalier roi.jpg|[[Stucco]] [[overdoor]] at [[palace of Fontainebleau|Fontainebleau]], probably designed by [[Primaticcio]], who painted the oval inset, 1530s or 1540s
File:Persee-florence.jpg|[[Benvenuto Cellini]], ''[[Perseus with the head of Medusa]]'', 1545–1554
File:Samson slaying a philistine.jpg|[[Giambologna]], ''[[Samson Slaying a Philistine]]'', about 1562
File:Giambologna raptodasabina.jpg|[[Giambologna]], ''[[Abduction of a Sabine Woman|Rape of the Sabine Women]]'', 1583, Florence, Italy, 13' 6" (4.1&nbsp;m) high, [[marble]]
</gallery>