Circle of Danese Cattaneo

Private Collection, Rome; Christie's London, July 4 1975; Heim Gallery, London

Heim Summer 1972, no. 30

Washington, New York, Cambridge 1979-1982, no. 15 (illus.); De Angelis 1985; De Angelis 1997; Rossi 1995

Standard surface abrasions to paint, some losses and chipping. Chipping around ears, collar and to jeweled border of corno. Restorations to corno (particularly the top portion) and to area below collar and down to shoulders. Nose and neck restored. Areas of refreshed polychromy and gilding. Skillful modeling. Base associated.
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RELATED LITERATURE

Venturi 1937, fig.160; Timofiewitsch 1972; Simi 1992; Simane 1993; Sponza 2001, pp.192-199; De Angelis 2001, pp.747-752 

This commanding portrait bust of Doge Leonardo Loredan (1436-1521), the most prominent member of the powerful Loredan family,  was made in Venice at a time when his popularity was at its height. He was elected Doge in 1501 and between 1501 and 1504 Giovanni Bellini painted the famous portrait of him now in the National Gallery, London (fig.1).  In subsequent years, the most prominent artists of the day created images of the Doge who occupied the ducal throne until his death.

In 1517, the church of SS. Giovanni e Paolo in Venice granted permission to Doge Leonardo Loredan's son to erect a monument to his father.  The majority of the sculptural decoration was completed by Danese Cattaneo, but the statue of the Doge, begun after Cattaneo's death in 1572, was the contribution of his assistant Girolamo Campagna and was completed in 1604 (fig.2).  Scholars have debated the authorship of the present terracotta bust, and several have regarded it as Cattaneo's model for the head of the marble figure, later used by Campagna.

Stylistically, there are strong associations to Cattaneo's portrait work which was his most important and enduring contribution to Venetian art in the Cinquecento.  The treatment of the deeply carved eyes with outlined irises and drilled pupils, the incised lines on his furrowed brow, and the hollowed cheeks are elements seen on several of his busts including the documented bronze bust of Lazzaro Buonamico in Bassano del Grappa and his marble bust of Pietro Bembo (d.1547) in the Santo in Padua (Venturi 1937, op. cit, figs. 9 and 6).  Cattaneo depicted his sitters as melancholic and introspective, yet the treatment of the details and surfaces in his known marble and bronze portrait busts demonstrate a unique and remarkable vitality (DeAngelis, op.cit.,p.128).  Furthermore, busts made by Cattaneo that predate the creation of a monument can be identified, such as the bust of Alessandro Contarini made at least 10 years prior to that of  his tomb.

However, we know of no terracotta models by Cattaneo.  The autograph portraits by him are generally treated more broadly in the details.  Although the sculptor has achieved an intensity in the gaze of the sitter here, this work lacks the slight turn of the head evident in all of Cattaneo's busts.  The finished marble portrait of Loredan by Campagna resembles the present terracotta neither in the age of the sitter nor in the subdued expression; these factors lead to a more convincing attribution of this fine bust to an accomplished sculptor in Cattaneo's circle.  Furthermore it seems implausible that the present bust is a restrospective posthumous portrait based upon early images of the Doge, and was prepared as a model for the tomb by Cattaneo himself at a time when so many other images of the Doge were available.

Leonardo Loredan was probably the most frequently portrayed Doge of his era.  He was painted by Gentile, Bellini, Giorgione, Carpaccio and Titian and sculpted by Lombardi, Leopardi and Campagna, among others.  Bellini's portrait of 1501-1504 has been cited as a source for several other images of the Doge (Simi, op.cit.) and the gaze, position of the head and even some of the details of the fabric are echoed here.  However, Rossi (op.cit, p.178) suggests that only Bellini's portrait links the Campagna figure with this terracotta bust.  Moreover, the profile portrait medallion by Alessandro Leopardi (circa 1503-5) on the flagstaff in the Piazza San Marco is also remarkably similar to the present terracotta both in the handling of the hollowed features of the face as well as the specific details of the jewelled border on the corno ducale.