An Italian terracotta portrait bust of a man, attributed to Santi Buglioni (1494-1576) early 16th century, Florence

By repute:
Guadagni Collection, 18th century
Adami Lami, Florence, circa 1820
Bagnogni Collection, Florence, circa 1870
Thence by descent to his nephew Carlo Pani
Professor Luigi Grassi, Florence
By whom sold through Count Foscari of the Museum of San Marco, 1928
Documented:
Sold Sotheby's London, July 2, 1937, lot 97, as 'Property of a Gentleman'
Dr. E. Heldering, by whom sold with Frederik Muller & Cie., Amsterdam, November 10, 1954
Gottfried Carel Eduard Crone (1880-1954)
Thence by descent to Mrs. A. K. Crone-Black
By whom sold with S. J. Mak van Waay, Amsterdam, January 29, 1963
Private Dutch Collection
Sotheby's London, December 9, 2005, lot 49

Beautifully modeled. Surface abrasions, small losses, and flaking of paint. With multiple layers of polychromy, some later. Restorations throughout including consolidation in his proper right ear and cheek, the back of his neck and hair, some of his back and the top of his proper right shoulder, and hair and hat on proper left side. Some restorations to surface chips and abrasions. Flaking of surface in black areas.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

A thermoluminescence test performed by the Research Laboratory for Archeology, Oxford, in 1997 (no. 581Y77) yielded results dating the last firing of this bust to between 390 and 600 years ago (1397-1607 AD).

From the early fifteenth century, the practice of producing commemorative portrait busts regained popularity in Renaissance Italy; busts in terracotta were particularly prevalent in the thriving city of Florence around 1500.  Giorgio Vasari, in his life of Andrea Verrochio (1435-1488), noted: "You can see in every house in Florence, above the chimneypieces, doors, windows, and cornices, innumerable portraits of this type, so well-made and so naturalistic that they seem to be living" (Vasari 1965, p. 239).  The technique for making such portraits often involved taking a mold directly from the face of the sitter, in life or shortly after death, and incorporating it into a composition made in sections, adding ears, hair, hat and shoulders before firing.  The finished bust would be realistically polychromed to complete the effect. 

This powerful terracotta portrait is a fine example of the convincing realism and stately dignity conveyed in these great Florentine sculptures.  The simple form of the tunic with closely fitting band at the neck is comparable in particular to the clothing on two busts in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, depicting unidentified sitters (see Pope-Hennessey, nos. 200 and 201).  The sculptural quality of the face is somewhat more refined here, however, and shows free modeling rather than the confined adherance to a mask mold as in the V&A examples.  A stronger comparison can be made with Florentine portraits in an different format: namely the heads of the figures on the frieze on the loggia of the Ospedale del Ceppo in Pistoia, a scheme depicting The Seven Works of Mercy (1526-1528), a documented commission by one of the great masters in the Florentine tradition of glazed terracotta sculpture, Santi Buglioni (fig. 1).  The patron of the frieze, and director of the Ospedale, Leonardo Buonafede (circa 1450-1545) is depicted as the central figure in seven scenes of charity, his face shown in each instance as a realistic portrait (as confirmed by comparison with other documented portraits).  The physiognamy and modelling style seen throughout the reliefs, especially in the faces of Buonafede, is undoubtely close in style to the present bust: the age and expression of the subject is similarly defined by distinctively baggy eyelids, slightly raised eyebrows meeting in a stern furrow defined by two parallel vertical wrinkes above the bridge of the nose, and slightly sagging wrinkles around the edges of the nose, corners of the lips, and line of the chin.

Following in the tradition of the Della Robbia workshops and his predecessor Benedetto Buglioni, Santi Buglioni was a prolific master of the glazed terracotta statuary that was popular in Italy in the 15th and early 16th centuries.  The commission for the Ospedale del Ceppo is today his best known work, and the clearest surviving example of his talents as a portraitist.  Although the bulk of his known oeuvre consists of architectural elements, often meant to be seen from a distance and from below, the hand recognizable from the distinctive portraits of the frieze at Pistoia has in the present bust realized an intimate, personal portrait, worthy of being closely admired in an interior like those mentioned by Vasari.

The subject of the present bust is not known; the suggestion that it could, like the Pistoia frieze, represent Buonafede seems plausible by comparison to that work but does not withstand comparison to contemporary painted portraits.  A tradition among early owners, repeated when the bust was first published in 1934, stated that it represents the Florentine statesman Piero Soderini (1452-1522), perhaps best remembered as the man who commissioned the David from Michelangelo Buonarotti in 1501.  However comparisons to known portaits of Soderini, such as a bust in the Uffizi, seem to refute this assertion.  Another possibility arises from the supposed 18th century provenance of the bust, which was by repute in the collection of the Guadagni family in Florence.  Tomaso Guadagni I (1454-1533), or "Thomas the Rich" is a candidate, although the only possible comparison seems to be with a bronze medal of 1523 bearing his likeness, and is inconclusive.

Whoever it represents was undoubtedly an accomplished and wealthy member of Renaissance society.  The naturalism and dignity conveyed in this portrait of a man late in his life succeed in capturing the stature of the citizen it commemorates, as well as the vitality and prosperity of Florentine life at the beginning of the 16th century.

RELATED LITERATURE

John Pope-Hennessey, Catalogue of Italian Sculpture in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1964
Giorgio Vasari, Lives of the Artists, reprinted London, 1965