Editing Baccio Bandinelli

{{Short description|Italian artist (1493–1560)}}
{{Redirect|Bandinelli|the surname|Bandinelli (surname)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}}

[[File:Baccio Bandinelli self-portrait, Vasari Corridor 2016-05-06.jpg|thumb|''Self-portrait'' of Bartolommeo Bandinelli, 16th century]]
'''Baccio Bandinelli''' (also called '''Bartolomeo Brandini'''; 12 November 1493 – shortly before 7 February 1560<ref>The date of his burial.</ref>), was an [[Italian Renaissance sculptor]], draughtsman, and painter.<ref>The paintings that may be attributed to Bandinelli are only a handful.</ref>

[[File:Baccio Bandinelli, ercole e caco, 1530-1534, in marmo, 01.jpg|thumb|''[[Hercules and Cacus]],'' 1530–1534]]
[[File:Baccio Bandinelli - Proyecto para las sepulturas de León X y Clemente VII. - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|Drawing of the monument for Pope Leo X and Clement VII]]

==Biography==
Bandinelli was the son of a prominent [[Florence|Florentine]] [[goldsmith]],<ref>Michelangelo de Viviano de Brandini of Gaiuole and his noble wife Catarina, a daughter of Taddeo Ugolino. Bandinelli produced a falsified genealogy connecting him with the noble Bandinelli of [[Siena]] in preparation for his induction into the chivalric Order of St James by [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]], in Rome, 1530.</ref> and first apprenticed in his shop. As a boy, he was apprenticed under [[Giovanni Francesco Rustici]], a sculptor friend of [[Leonardo da Vinci]]. Among his earliest works was a ''Saint Jerome'' in [[Wax sculpture|wax]], made for [[Giuliano di Lorenzo de' Medici|Giuliano de' Medici]], identified as Bandinelli's by [[John Pope-Hennessy]].

[[Giorgio Vasari]], a former pupil in Bandinelli's workshop, claimed Bandinelli was driven by jealousy of [[Benvenuto Cellini]] and [[Michelangelo]]; and recounts that:
{{quote|text=(When) the cartoon of Michelangelo in the Council Hall ("Battle of Cascina" at Palazzo Vecchio)<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/m/michelan/4drawing/cascina/index.html | title=Web Gallery of Art, searchable fine arts image database }}</ref> was uncovered, and all the artists ran to copy it, and Baccio (most frequently) among (them),... having counterfeited the key of the chamber. In... 1512, Piero Soderini was deposed and the... Medici reinstated. In the tumult, therefore, Baccio, being by himself, secretly cut the cartoon into several pieces.

Some said he did it that he might have a piece of the cartoon always near him, and others that he wanted to prevent other youths from making use of it; others again say that he did it out of affection for Leonardo da Vinci, or from the hatred he bore to Michelangelo. The loss anyhow to the city was no small one, and Baccio's fault very great.}}

Bandinelli's lifelong obsession with Michelangelo is a recurring theme in assessments of his career.<ref>Kathleen Weil-Garris, "Bandinelli and Michelangelo: A Problem of Artist's Identity", in ''Art the Ape of Nature: Studies in Honor of H. W. Jansen,'' ed. by M. Barasch and L.F. Sandler. New York, 1981.</ref>

Bandinelli was a leader in the group of Florentine Mannerists who were inspired by the revived interest in [[Donatello]] attendant on the installation of Donatello's bas-relief panels for the pulpit in [[Basilica di San Lorenzo di Firenze|San Lorenzo]], 1515. The artist presented his relief of the ''Deposition'' to Charles V at Genoa in 1529; though the relief has been lost, a bronze from it by [[Antonio Susini (sculptor)|Antonio Susini]] in 1600 ([[Musée du Louvre]]) shows the decisive inspiration of Donatello's emotional pitch and intensity;<ref>Christopher Fulton, "Present at the Inception: Donatello and the Origins of Sixteenth-Century Mannerism" ''Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte'' '''60'''.2 (1997, pp. 166–199) p. 174 and fig. 9.</ref> Bandinelli made several drawings of the Donatello reliefs, though later in life he disparaged them in a letter to Cosimo I de' Medici.<ref>Fulton 1997: 178, note 15.</ref>

His sculptures have never inspired the admiration given those of Michelangelo, especially the colossal (5.05 m) marble group of ''[[Hercules and Cacus]]'' (completed in 1534) in the [[Piazza della Signoria]], Florence, and ''Adam and Eve'' in the Museo Nazionale del [[Bargello]], which both stand within sight of some of Michelangelo's masterworks. Vasari said of him "He did nothing but make ''[[bozzetto|bozzetti]]'' and finished little", and modern commentators have remarked on the vitality of Bandinelli's terracotta models contrasted with the finished marbles: "all the freshness of his first approach to a subject was lost in the laborious execution in marble... A brilliant draughtsman and excellent small-scale sculptor, he had a morbid fascination for colossi which he was ill-equipped to execute. His failure as a sculptor on a grand scale was accentuated by his desire to imitate Michelangelo."<ref>{{cite magazine|first=Otto |last=Kurz|title=A Model for Bandinelli's Statue of Cosimo I|magazine=The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs|volume=85|issue=500 |date=November 1944|page=280}} The terracotta ''bozzetto'' is at the [[Wallace Collection]], London.</ref>

''Hercules and Cacus'' was commissioned by the [[Medici]] pope [[Clement VII]], who had been shown a wax model. The supplied block of [[Carrara]] marble was not big enough to execute Bandinelli's original design. He had to make new wax models, one of which was chosen by the pope as the final draft. Bandinelli had already carved the sculpture as far as the abdomen of Hercules, when during the 1527 [[Sack of Rome (1527)|Sack of Rome]], the pope was taken prisoner. Meanwhile, in Florence, republican enemies of the Medici took advantage of the chaos to exile [[Ippolito de' Medici]]. Bandinelli, a supporter of the Medici, was also exiled. In 1530 Emperor [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]] retook Florence after a long siege. Pope Clement VII subsequently installed his illegitimate son [[Alessandro de' Medici]] as duke of Tuscany. Bandinelli then returned to Florence and continued work on the statue, which was completed in 1534 and transported from the cathedral's workshop to its present marble [[pedestal]]. But from the moment it was unveiled, it faced ridicule; [[Benvenuto Cellini|Cellini]] compared the ponderous group to 'a sack full of melons'. Afterwards, Bandinelli tried to sabotage Cellini's career. The statue was restored between February and April 1994.

Bandinelli's drawings, which have in the past masqueraded as Michelangelo's in connoisseurs' collections, came into their own in the later twentieth century.

Among Bandinelli's pupils were Vasari and [[Francesco de' Rossi (Il Salviati)]]. His sons Clemente, a collaborator in his studio, and Michelangelo Bandinelli were also sculptors.

<gallery>
Battagliadicascina.jpg|The cartoon of the ''Battle of Cascina'' by [[Michelangelo]]
Galería Uffizi, Florencia, Italia, 2022-09-18, DD 75.jpg|Bandinelli’s copy of the ''[[Laocoön Group]]''
Pietà di baccio bandinelli 02.JPG|''Pietà,'' [[Basilica della Santissima Annunziata di Firenze|Basilica della Santissima Annunziata]], Florence
Baccio Bandinelli and coll., 5 of 24 reliefs from the choir of Santa Maria del Fiore, 1547-72, Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Florence.jpg|Baccio Bandinelli and collaborators, 5 of 24 reliefs from the [[Choir (architecture)|choir]] of [[Florence Cathedral|Santa Maria del Fiore]], 1547–72, [[Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Florence]]
</gallery>

==Selected works==
Baccio Bandinelli's works include:<!--a better list is in German wikipedia-->
* copy of the [[Laocoön group]], at the time in the [[Cortile del Belvedere]], commissioned by [[Pope Leo X]] as a gift to [[Francis I of France|François I]]. Bandinelli boasted that he would exceed the original, and when he was finished, after a hiatus during the pontificate of [[Pope Adrian VI|Adrian VI]], the Medici [[Pope Clement VII]] could not bear to part with it, sent some antiquities to the King of France in its stead, and sent Baccio's ''Laocoön'' to Florence. It remains at the [[Uffizi]].
* Tombs of the [[Medici]] popes [[Pope Leo X|Leo X]] and [[Pope Clement VII|Clement VII]] in [[Santa Maria sopra Minerva]] (1536–41).
* ''Bust of Cosimo I de' Medici'' (c. 1539–40) ([[Metropolitan Museum of Art]], acc. no. 1987.280) This had been locked away in a vault in a Swiss bank until a dealer's tip led the curator [[Olga Raggio]] to its rediscovery.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=The New York Times|last=Fox|first=Margalit|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/06/arts/design/06raggio.html|title=Olga Raggio, a Scholar and Art Curator, Dies at 82|date=5 February 2009}}</ref>
* ''Monument to Giovanni delle Bande Nere'' (1540–54), a seated figure on a magnificent pedestal, in piazza San Lorenzo, Florence
* ''Pietà'' in the [[Basilica della Santissima Annunziata di Firenze|Basilica della Santissima Annunziata]], Florence, where Bandinelli portrayed himself<ref>Bandinelli's penchant for self-portraits, both hidden and overt, is well documented.  Bandinelli's terracotta ''Head of Saint Paul'', [[Ashmolean Museum]], Oxford, is actually a self-portrait. Izabella Galicka and Hanna Sygietyńska, "A Newly Discovered Self-Portrait by Baccio Bandinelli" ''The Burlington Magazine'' '''134''', No. 1077 (December 1992, pp. 805–807) p. 805 note.</ref> in the figure of Joseph of Arimathea. Bandinelli is buried in the chapel, with his wife Giacoma Doni.
* ''Ceres'' and ''Apollo'' (1552–1556) for niches in the façade of [[Bernardo Buontalenti|Buontalenti]]'s grotto in the [[Boboli Gardens]]

[[Image:Palazzo Medici Riccardi, baccio bandinelli, scultura nel cortile 2.JPG|thumb|220px|right|''Orpheus'', now in the courtyard of the [[Palazzo Medici-Riccardi]], Florence]]

* ''Orpheus'' for Palazzo Vecchio, now in the courtyard of the [[Palazzo Medici-Riccardi]]. One of Bandinelli's few signed works.
* Works for the [[Santa Maria del Fiore|Duomo]], Florence, including the high altar and its ''Adam and Eve'' (1551), now in the [[Bargello]] and ''Pietà'' now in the crypt of Santa Croce; much-praised bas-reliefs made for the enclosure of the choir, designed by the architect Giuliano di Baccio d'Angnolo (1555), now in the [[Museo dell'Opera del Duomo (Florence)|Museo dell'Opera del Duomo]]; ''Saint Peter'', one of eight apostles by various sculptors in the piers of the crossing.
* Works in [[Palazzo Vecchio]], including, in the Audience Hall, a statue of ''Grand Duke Cosimo I de' Medici'' and one of ''Pope Leo X blessing'' (finished after Bandinelli's death by [[Vincenzo de' Rossi]])
* ''God the Father'' (1549) in Santa Croce cloister
* ''Andrea Doria as Neptune'', outside [[Carrara Cathedral]]. When Carrara was lost for a short while to the Genoese Republic, Bandinelli was commissioned to sculpt [[Andrea Doria]]. Afterwards the Florentine Republic recaptured the city and such a symbol of Genoese dominion was rendered inappropriate, so the statue was renamed [[Neptune (mythology)|Neptune]]. This rechristening as the Roman sea divinity was suggested by the fountain sea creatures at the statue's base.
* In the Bargello are also a number of lesser works: ''Noah'' (bas-relief), portrait busts of Eleonora di Toledo and Cosimo I de' Medici, ''Venus'', ''Leda'', ''Hercules'', ''Bacchus'' ''Cleopatra'' and a portrait bust of an unknown man.
* A youthful portrait by [[Andrea del Sarto]] c. 1517 is conserved at the [[Uffizi]].

==See also==
* [[Portrait of a Lady known as Smeralda Bandinelli]] by Botticelli (portrait of Baccio's grandmother)

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

== References ==
*[http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/vasari/vasari22.htm Giorgio Vasari, ''Vite...'':] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140814192521/http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/vasari/vasari22.htm |date=14 August 2014 }} Baccio Bandinelli. The classic brief anecdotal account of Baccio's career.
*Touring Club Italiano, ''Firenze e Dintorni'' (1922) 1964.

== Further reading ==
{{Commons}}
{{Wikisource1911Enc|Bandinelli, Bartolommeo}}
*Louis A. Waldman, ''Baccio Bandinelli and Art at the Medici Court:  A Corpus of Early Modern Sources'' (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 2004).
* [[Paola Barocchi]], ed. ''Scritti d'arte del Cinquecento''. (Milan: Ricciardi, 1974. (pp.&nbsp;1359–1411: Baccio Bandinelli: ''Il Memoriale'')
* Roger Ward, ''Baccio Bandinelli, 1493-1560:  Drawings from British Collections''. (Cambridge: Fitzwilliam Museum) 1988. Exhibition catalogue of seventy-four Bandinelli drawings. {{ISBN|0-914160-06-0}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bandinelli, Bartolommeo}}
[[Category:1493 births]]
[[Category:1560 deaths]]
[[Category:Artists from Florence]]
[[Category:Italian draughtsmen]]
[[Category:16th-century Italian painters]]
[[Category:Italian male painters]]
[[Category:Italian Mannerist sculptors]]
[[Category:Italian Renaissance sculptors]]
[[Category:16th-century Italian sculptors]]
[[Category:Italian male sculptors]]
[[Category:Catholic painters]]
[[Category:Catholic sculptors]]