Andrea del Verrocchio was a great art protagonist in Florence. Tireless inventor of new technical solutions, in his workshop he developed innovative compositional and iconographic schemes that led him to be a reference point for the generation of artists active in the last decades of fifteenth century, such as Perugino, Botticelli, Ghirlandaio and Leonardo Da Vinci; the latter was by Verrocchio an important collaborator, before the departure of the master for Venice.
The show – the first to focus on the artist’s career – is housed in the Palazzo Strozzi and the Bargello Museum and exhibits some significant works by Andrea, including paintings, drawings and sculptures, of which a large number have been requested in loan from prestigious international museums, including the National Gallery in London and the Louvre in Paris.
So, what better opportunity to see, gathered again in Florence, almost the entire corpus of Verrocchiesque works. To better appreciate these works, we are going to do a guided tour that start from Palazzo Strozzi, where the works related to the artist’s training in Desiderio da Settignano’s workshop are exhibited (the latter here present with a beautiful marble portrait bust).
Drawings and sketches here exhibited highlight Verrocchio’s sensitivity in understanding and reinterpreting the models established in the middle of the century, exemplified in a great master like Filippo Lippi.
Inside Palazzo Strozzi it is now possible to admire the ‘Dama col Mazzolino’ (Lady with the bouquet) – a masterpiece of the artist – which here is rightly related both to the works of her master Desiderio da Settignano and to the studies conducted by Leonardo Da Vinci on drawing, as shown on the Windsor Castle leaf that the Verrocchiesque Lady seems to be the preparatory drawing of …
As a painter and marble and bronze sculptor, Andrea was a versatile personality. After admiring the delicacy of the Dama col mazzolino, we will visit the other rooms to see how his bronze works are equipped with snap and dynamism, as it can be seen in the vigorous figure of David. And it is always from bronze that he moulded a spectacular work, a masterpiece of the entire fifteenth century sculpture, that is the Incredulity of St. Thomas, made for the church of Orsanmichele, now on display at the Bargello.
Before leaving Palazzo Strozzi, however, we will see Verrocchio grappling with the old fashioned portrait, a subject then in vogue in Renaissance Florence.
Even if he was not the only maker, Andrea realized it by searching for the most virtuosic effects, with that typical chisel results that would become a personal artist’s signature.
Inspired by the literary model of Plutarch’s Parallel Lives, together with other contemporary artists, Verrocchio rediscovers the ‘double portrait’, that is, the one that sees the juxtaposition of the portraits of two protagonists of ancient history who distinguished themselves for their opposite qualities – renowned was the example of Alexander the Great and Darius.
The exhibition dedicated to Verrocchio will be open until July 14th. For more information on the costs of the guided tour, contact me at info@guidaturistica-michelebusillo.com.
For information about show ticket prices, please visit the Palazzo Strozzi website www.palazzostrozzi.org
Andrea del Verrocchio was a great art protagonist in Florence. Tireless inventor of new technical solutions, in his workshop he developed innovative compositional and iconographic schemes that led him to be a reference point for the generation of artists active in the last decades of fifteenth century, such as Perugino, Botticelli, Ghirlandaio and Leonardo Da Vinci; the latter was by Verrocchio an important collaborator, before the departure of the master for Venice.
The show – the first to focus on the artist’s career – is housed in the Palazzo Strozzi and the Bargello Museum and exhibits some significant works by Andrea, including paintings, drawings and sculptures, of which a large number have been requested in loan from prestigious international museums, including the National Gallery in London and the Louvre in Paris.
So, what better opportunity to see, gathered again in Florence, almost the entire corpus of Verrocchiesque works. To better appreciate these works, we are going to do a guided tour that start from Palazzo Strozzi, where the works related to the artist’s training in Desiderio da Settignano’s workshop are exhibited (the latter here present with a beautiful marble portrait bust).
Drawings and sketches here exhibited highlight Verrocchio’s sensitivity in understanding and reinterpreting the models established in the middle of the century, exemplified in a great master like Filippo Lippi.
Inside Palazzo Strozzi it is now possible to admire the ‘Dama col Mazzolino’ (Lady with the bouquet) – a masterpiece of the artist – which here is rightly related both to the works of her master Desiderio da Settignano and to the studies conducted by Leonardo Da Vinci on drawing, as shown on the Windsor Castle leaf that the Verrocchiesque Lady seems to be the preparatory drawing of …
As a painter and marble and bronze sculptor, Andrea was a versatile personality. After admiring the delicacy of the Dama col mazzolino, we will visit the other rooms to see how his bronze works are equipped with snap and dynamism, as it can be seen in the vigorous figure of David. And it is always from bronze that he moulded a spectacular work, a masterpiece of the entire fifteenth century sculpture, that is the Incredulity of St. Thomas, made for the church of Orsanmichele, now on display at the Bargello.
Before leaving Palazzo Strozzi, however, we will see Verrocchio grappling with the old fashioned portrait, a subject then in vogue in Renaissance Florence.
Even if he was not the only maker, Andrea realized it by searching for the most virtuosic effects, with that typical chisel results that would become a personal artist’s signature.
Inspired by the literary model of Plutarch’s Parallel Lives, together with other contemporary artists, Verrocchio rediscovers the ‘double portrait’, that is, the one that sees the juxtaposition of the portraits of two protagonists of ancient history who distinguished themselves for their opposite qualities – renowned was the example of Alexander the Great and Darius.
The exhibition dedicated to Verrocchio will be open until July 14th. For more information on the costs of the guided tour, contact me at info@guidaturistica-michelebusillo.com.
For information about show ticket prices, please visit the Palazzo Strozzi website www.palazzostrozzi.org
