Full Description
The first comprehensive interdisciplinary account of Michelangelo's work as a sculptor in bronze.
This book is the outcome of extensive original research undertaken over several years by academics at the University of Cambridge together with a team of international experts, directed by Dr Victoria Avery, a leading authority on the history, art and technology of bronze casting in Renaissance Italy.
The catalyst for this innovative project was the attribution to Michelangelo of the Rothschild bronzes - two extraordinary bronze groups of nude men on fantastical panthers - prior to their display at the Fitzwilliam Museum in 2015. First proposed by the distinguished Michelangelo scholar Professor Paul Joannides and validated by the wide-ranging research published here, the attribution to Michelangelo has now gained widespread acceptance.
As part of this pioneering project, Professor Peter Abrahams, the eminent clinical anatomist specialising in dissection, has carried out the first ever in-depth scientific analysis of the anatomy of Michelangelo's nude figures. Abrahams' findings have uncovered hitherto unrecognised features of Michelangelo's unparalleled mastery of the structure and workings of the human body that give the gesture and the motion of his figures their unique expressive force.
Enigmatic and visually-striking masterpieces, the Rothschild bronzes are the focus of this multi-authored, interdisciplinary volume that contains ground-breaking contributions by leading experts in the fields of art history, anatomy, conservation science, bronze casting and the history of collecting.
Contents
Acknowledgements
Foreword
Preamble
Introduction
Visual Evidence
1. Brazen Defiance
Young Michelangelo, Bronze and the David for France - Victoria Avery
2. Commission Impossible
Michelangelo's Bronze Julius II for Bologna - Victoria Avery
3. Divine Pipe Dreams
Mature Michelangelo and the Mastery of Metal - Victoria Avery
4. The God of Design
Michelangelo and the Decorative Arts - Timothy Clifford
5. Secular Popes, Pagan Times
The Golden Age and Michelangelo's Rothschild Bronzes - Cyril Humphris
6. An Anatomical 'Whodunnit'
Dissecting the Rothschild Bronzes - Julia C. Ruston and Peter H. Abrahams
7. The Science of Art
Technical Considerations of the Rothschild Bronzes - Arie Pappot with Robert van Langh
8. The Sculptor at Work
Recreating the Rothschild Bronzes - Andrew Lacey
9. What a Ride!
Brilliant Balance and the Beasts of the Rothschild Bronzes - Faya Causey
10. Duality in Art and Anatomy
Men and Animals: Youth and Old Age in Leonardo and Michelangelo - Domenico Laurenza
11. Sources and Influences
Michelangelo and Rustici - Paul Joannides
12. Tyrants and Lovers
Subject and Meaning: the Rothschild Bronzes - Meg Galindo and William E. Wallace
13. In Search of a Patron
The Rothschild Bronzes and the Case of the Missing Patron - Martin Gayford
14. Noble Minds
Adolphe and Julie de Rothschild: The First Owners of the Rothschild Bronzes and their Collection - Dimitrios Zikos
15. News Travels Far
The Reception of the Rothschild Bronzes - Morlin Ellis
16. The Catalyst
A Brief Narrative in the First Person - Paul Joannides
Notes
Image Credits
Bibliography
Contributors
Index
