This beautifully produced, grand-scale volume accompanied the first monographic exhibition of the works of the Florentine sculptor Bertoldo di Giovanni (ca. 1440–91). Held at the Frick Collection (September 2019–January 2020), the exhibition featured more than twenty free-standing sculptures, medals, and reliefs attributed to the artist, including the Frick's Shield Bearor (cat. no. 3). The works, drawn from a range of public and private collections, represented nearly the entirety of the artist's surviving oeuvre. Following publications by Wilhelm von Bode (1925) and James David Draper (1992), this is only the third book dedicated to Bertoldo, who is perhaps best known today as student/collaborator of Donatello, teacher of Michelangelo, and intimate of Lorenzo de’ Medici. The substantial text is comprised of fourteen scholarly essays, an exhibition catalogue, and an appendix of archival documents. But one message is clear throughout: if his small-scale works have long been overlooked and the artist himself often viewed as a secondary figure in studies of Renaissance sculpture, Bertoldo and “the crucial role he played in the development of Florentine sculpture in the second half of the Quattrocento warrant serious attention in their own right” (10).
In a comprehensive introductory essay, Alexander J. Noelle outlines existing scholarship devoted to Bertoldo, a range of issues facing researchers, and the import of recent archival discoveries and technical insights. This begins with challenges in defining the artist's relatively limited surviving oeuvre—six bronze statuettes, five bronze reliefs, six medals, one polychrome statue, one terracotta frieze, and a series of stucco reliefs—given that only two works, the Bellerophon Taming Pegasus statuette (cat. no. 6) and the Mehmed II medal (cat. no. 15) are signed. Noelle then addresses Bertoldo's origins and training, particularly the uncertainty surrounding his working relationship with Donatello, a point of long-standing interest, as Bertoldo was a self-described “di[s]cepol di Donato” (“disciple of Donatello,” 23, 83), and it was for him, Vasari explained, that Bertoldo finished the pulpit reliefs at San Lorenzo.
Even so, scholars have struggled to identify Bertoldo's hand in those works, a point that, Noelle suggests, might be attributed to the younger artist's skill in replicating Donatello's style. Lorenzo de’ Medici's patronage is considered, including Bertoldo's status as familiare, residence in the Medici household, likely productions for the family and associates, and role in the sculpture gardens at Piazza San Marco, where, Vasari asserted, Bertoldo served as conduit between the deceased Donatello and the young Michelangelo. Finally, Noelle emphasizes the import of recognizing Bertoldo's diverse works—created across a wide variety of media—as manifesting a collaborative practice in which “he was often designer and modeler, envisioning the motifs that he then employed others to render” (43).
Noelle's points are expanded upon in subsequent essays, arranged in four categories. The first, relating to historical and artistic context, includes analyses of Bertoldo's rediscovery by Wilhelm von Bode, the evolving tradition of bronze statuettes in Quattrocento Florence, and the impact of Donatello's work on Bertoldo and, in turn, Bertoldo's influence on Michelangelo. A particularly fascinating contribution by Caroline Elam traces historical evidence for the Medici sculpture gardens, Lorenzo's school there, and Bertoldo's role as custode and capo (keeper and head). Case studies of specific works follow, including iconographic reassessments of the Shield Bearers (cat. nos. 3 and 4) and Battle relief (cat. no. 11), these emphasizing Bertoldo's ingenuity in creating intentionally ambiguous imagery intended to excite conversation and debate among Laurentian cognoscenti.
Other contributions in this section includee Xavier F. Salomon's overview of the artist's medallic production and, from Aimee Ng, an essay tracing Bertoldo's hand across a variety of media. A third section, dedicated to technical issues, features Julia Day's important, process-oriented analysis of Bertoldo's bronzes, a study of the polychrome St. Jerome (cat. no. 18), and a post-conservation report regarding the glazed terracotta frieze from Poggio a Caiano (cat. no. 19). Two final essays address the artist's legal struggles and the provenance of Bertoldo's works in Medici collections. With an attentiveness to historical context and sculptural processes, consideration of a range of media and forms, and sustained emphasis on the collaborative nature of the works considered, this book emerges as essential reading for those seeking a better understanding not only of Bertoldo di Giovanni but also of early modern sculpture itself.
