DOI chapter:
Chapter IV: Early Sculpture
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.62110#0092
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VERROCCHIO
was executed for Cosimo il Vecchio. It was discovered in
the attics of the Villa in many fragments not many years
ago, thrown aside as of no value among a quantity of
rubbish. Some of the most important parts are missing,
but it has been judiciously pieced together with no attempt
at restoring the missing parts. Built by the late owner of
the Villa into the wall of the inner courtyard, it was first
identified as a work of Verrocchio in the present year by
Count Carlo Gamba and Dr. von Fabriczy.*
The composition is imitated from the Tympanum of
Luca della Robbia, executed in 1443 for the door of the
Sacristy in the Duomo, to which it faithfully adheres in
general design as well as in much of the detail. The figure
of Christ rising from the Tomb is precisely the same in
attitude and gesture, and differs only in the type of face,
which is personal to Verrocchio, and in a slight readjust-
ment of the draperies in order to show more of the nude
torso. The Angels flying on either side are two instead of
four, but the gestures repeat with little variation the upper
figures in Luca’s Tympanum. The position of the five
soldiers is more varied, but the general arrangement is the
same, one stretched out in the foreground, with two on
either side’; only, where those of Luca are all in deep sleep,
Verrocchio, with characteristic love of transient movement,
has represented two in the act of awaking. The palm
shrubs, copied by Luca himself from trecento work, are
imitated exactly.
But closely as the composition follows that of Luca
della Robbia, the sentiment is entirely personal and offers
* See "L’Arte,” vii. 1904, Fasc. ii., “ Una Terra-Cotta del Verrocchio
a Careggi," by Carlo Gamba. By the kindness of Signor Segre, owner
of the Villa, I am able to reproduce a photograph of the relief.
VERROCCHIO
was executed for Cosimo il Vecchio. It was discovered in
the attics of the Villa in many fragments not many years
ago, thrown aside as of no value among a quantity of
rubbish. Some of the most important parts are missing,
but it has been judiciously pieced together with no attempt
at restoring the missing parts. Built by the late owner of
the Villa into the wall of the inner courtyard, it was first
identified as a work of Verrocchio in the present year by
Count Carlo Gamba and Dr. von Fabriczy.*
The composition is imitated from the Tympanum of
Luca della Robbia, executed in 1443 for the door of the
Sacristy in the Duomo, to which it faithfully adheres in
general design as well as in much of the detail. The figure
of Christ rising from the Tomb is precisely the same in
attitude and gesture, and differs only in the type of face,
which is personal to Verrocchio, and in a slight readjust-
ment of the draperies in order to show more of the nude
torso. The Angels flying on either side are two instead of
four, but the gestures repeat with little variation the upper
figures in Luca’s Tympanum. The position of the five
soldiers is more varied, but the general arrangement is the
same, one stretched out in the foreground, with two on
either side’; only, where those of Luca are all in deep sleep,
Verrocchio, with characteristic love of transient movement,
has represented two in the act of awaking. The palm
shrubs, copied by Luca himself from trecento work, are
imitated exactly.
But closely as the composition follows that of Luca
della Robbia, the sentiment is entirely personal and offers
* See "L’Arte,” vii. 1904, Fasc. ii., “ Una Terra-Cotta del Verrocchio
a Careggi," by Carlo Gamba. By the kindness of Signor Segre, owner
of the Villa, I am able to reproduce a photograph of the relief.