The Equestrian Statue of Bartolemeo Colleoni (1400 - 75).
by Andrea del Verrocchio.
Campo SS. Giovanni e Paolo.
Venice.
c. 1480 - 88.
395 cms tall excluding the pedestal.
395 cms tall excluding the pedestal.
Three
sculptors entered a competition for the erection of this Equestrian monument - Verrocchio
from Florence, Alessandro Leopardi from Venice and Bartolomeo Vellano from
Padua. Verrocchio carved a wooden model of his proposed sculpture, while the
others made models of wax and terracotta. The three models were exhibited in
Venice in 1483 and the contract was awarded to Verrocchio. He then opened a
workshop in Venice and made the final wax model which was ready to be cast in
bronze, but he died in 1488, before this was completed.
Verrocchio
had requested that his pupil Lorenzo di Credi, who had taken charge of his Florence
workshop, should allowed to finish the statue, but the Venetian state after
much delay commissioned Alessandro Leopardi to complete the project and the statue
was eventually erected on a pedestal made by Leopardi in the Campo SS. Giovanni
e Paolo where it still stands.
Portrait of Colleoni
Giovanni
Battista Moroni
Castello Sforzesco, Milan
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