DOI Kapitel:
Chapter IV: Early Sculpture
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.62110#0101
EARLY SCULPTURE 63
the left in attitude and in structure of the torso and limbs
recalls vividly the Sleeping Youth of the Berlin Museum.
In the middle distance is seated a judge watching with
keen emotion the various scenes of combat going on around
him and seeming to vibrate with concentrated energy. To
the left on the same plane a youth emerging from a portico
bestows an insolent caress on a nude female, rousing the
jealous wrath of her protector, who seems about to give
vent to savage fury. Beyond these, again, other figures
are seen through the open arches of the city wall, indicated
in the lowest relief and with the slightest touches, yet all
with equal vigour and energy. The actions are transitory
in the characteristic style of Verrocchio and dramatic to
the highest degree. Even in the Silver Relief and the
Colleoni Statue he has hardly surpassed the energy and elan
of these tiny figures. With all its vivid life and vehemence,
however, the action does not overpass the limits of sculp-
turesque treatment, but is restrained and solidified by the
perfect balance and precision of the composition and by a
certain titanic majesty even the minutest of the figures
possesses. The relief would seem to be the model for some
plaque to be executed in bronze, and Dr. Fabriczy has
suggested that it may be Verrocchio’s study for the work
as cited above in Tommaso’s Inventory—“ Per una storia
di rilievo choni piu fighure.” * Dr. Bode, who at one time
supposed it to be by Verrocchio, has in his latest publica-
tion given it (with a note of interrogation, however), to
Leonardo himself.f So excellent is the work, so full of
fire and energy, as to be not unworthy of even so high an
* C. von Fabriczy, “ Verrocchio al Servizio de’ Medici,’’ Arch.
Stor. dell’ Arte,” Ser. ii., Anno I., Fasc. iii.
t Bode, " Denkmaler der Renaissance Sculptor,” Tafel 449.
the left in attitude and in structure of the torso and limbs
recalls vividly the Sleeping Youth of the Berlin Museum.
In the middle distance is seated a judge watching with
keen emotion the various scenes of combat going on around
him and seeming to vibrate with concentrated energy. To
the left on the same plane a youth emerging from a portico
bestows an insolent caress on a nude female, rousing the
jealous wrath of her protector, who seems about to give
vent to savage fury. Beyond these, again, other figures
are seen through the open arches of the city wall, indicated
in the lowest relief and with the slightest touches, yet all
with equal vigour and energy. The actions are transitory
in the characteristic style of Verrocchio and dramatic to
the highest degree. Even in the Silver Relief and the
Colleoni Statue he has hardly surpassed the energy and elan
of these tiny figures. With all its vivid life and vehemence,
however, the action does not overpass the limits of sculp-
turesque treatment, but is restrained and solidified by the
perfect balance and precision of the composition and by a
certain titanic majesty even the minutest of the figures
possesses. The relief would seem to be the model for some
plaque to be executed in bronze, and Dr. Fabriczy has
suggested that it may be Verrocchio’s study for the work
as cited above in Tommaso’s Inventory—“ Per una storia
di rilievo choni piu fighure.” * Dr. Bode, who at one time
supposed it to be by Verrocchio, has in his latest publica-
tion given it (with a note of interrogation, however), to
Leonardo himself.f So excellent is the work, so full of
fire and energy, as to be not unworthy of even so high an
* C. von Fabriczy, “ Verrocchio al Servizio de’ Medici,’’ Arch.
Stor. dell’ Arte,” Ser. ii., Anno I., Fasc. iii.
t Bode, " Denkmaler der Renaissance Sculptor,” Tafel 449.