Text

theses

ETD doctoral

Fifteenth-century sculpture is usually associated with the rigorous smooth polish of Verrocchio’s Doubting Thomas, Lorenzo Ghiberti’s Baptistery Doors, or the pulitezza of the della Robbia workshop’s glazed terracotte. However, this dissertation seeks to demonstrate that quattrocento views about sculptural finish were not homogenous by studying a group of artworks, mainly bronzes, in which extensive hammering is visible on the final product, elements are cast from minimally modeled waxes, or there are wholly unpolished passages. The presence of several dozen quattrocento works with these characteristics, many of which were displayed publicly, suggests that the alternative style had an audience. The rough aesthetic was often utilized in sculptures that would be manipulated by hand or examined in close detail, where each abraded surface could be observed, necessarily making the artist’s process visible to observers. By calling attention to their creative process, fifteenth-century artists also underscored their transformative capabilities and mastery over their craft. Examining these sculptures as a cohesive group, I argue that it is possible to see a burgeoning interest in sculptor’s process as a subject of art, a phenomenon usually ascribed to the following century and ultimately to modernism.

Donatello appears to be the progenitor of the rough aesthetic, and therefore he is the subject of chapters one and two. The first demonstrates how he used minimal modeling and ostentatious cold working for dramatic effect in his decoration for the Old Sacristy, San Lorenzo, Florence; the Lamentation now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; and the series of reliefs now installed as pulpits in San Lorenzo, Florence. The second focuses on how Donatello’s art – and the musicians balcony made for the Florentine Duomo in particular – would come to be at the center of debates about artistic finish in the sixteenth century. The third chapter is about a group of masterful rough aesthetic bronze reliefs by a single artist – considering a Flagellation relief now in the Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria, Perugia, in special detail – which questions the current attribution of the reliefs to the multifaceted Sienese artist, Francesco di Giorgio Martini. The final chapter considers how the rough aesthetic was utilized in all'antica sculpture made in Florence during the Laurentian period. A coda discusses the rough aesthetic’s possible impact on Michelangelo.

ETD_11330

Ph.D.

Includes bibliographical references

doi:10.7282/t3-ytry-6423

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