WORKSHOP OF FRANCESCO DI SIMONE FERRUCCI (1437-1493) FLORENCE, CIRCA 1460-1470 | ARMORIAL FRIEZE

Sotheby's London, 16 January 1983, lot 14

This beautifully carved frieze from the atelier of Francesco di Simone Ferrucci, a talented disciple of Verrocchio, probably adorned the lintel of a fireplace in the palazzo of the Fermo family in Verona. During the second half of the 15th century in Italy, leading sculptors were commissioned to create grand fireplaces and monumental relief sculptures, bearing the family’s coat of arms, that were meant to glorify the family's name and reputation.

The fine, detailed carving with the idiosyncratic treatment of the putti with long, seemingly wet hair hanging about their faces and the deep folds between the rolls of flesh on their arms and legs is comparable to other works by Ferrucci and his studio whose early sculptures betray a stylistic dependence on Desiderio da Settignano. The majority of pieces by Ferrucci are preserved in museum collections or in their original church installations, including a similar pietra serena frieze in the Museo Bardini, Florence (Lusanna, op. cit., fig. 240) and another in the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York, both previously ascribed to Desiderio. Two drawings by Ferrucci and his workshop circa 1480-90, preserved in the Museé du Louvre and once part of a group formerly known as the ‘Verrocchio Sketchbook’, reveal the origin of the floating putti.

The incisive detailing of the wreath, the wings and the classical motifs can also be found in documented works by Ferrucci, including the monument to Alessandro Tartagni in the church of San Domenico, Bologna, 1485-87 (Pisani, op. cit., fig. 100) where the putti support a wreath once bearing a coat of arms, above the sculptor’s signature. Ferrucci’s sepulcre of Barbara Manfredi in the church of San Mercuriale, made in 1492 (Pisani, op. cit., fig. 36) again includes some of the same classical ornamentation and facial types of the putti with long, windswept locks of hair. 

The outstanding clarity of form in this frieze is underscored by the material from which it was carved. Pietra serena is a hard and fine-grained stone from Fiesole which was employed by Tuscan sculptors throughout the Renaissance. Here, Ferrucci was able to achieve a sense of depth, with very shallow relief, using of a variety of chiseled textures and contours.

RELATED LITERATURE

H. Wills, Florentine Heraldry, London, 1901, pp. 147 and 148;

J. Pope-Hennessy, Catalogue of Italian Sculpture in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1964;

Sculptures of the 15th & 16th Centuries, Summer Exhibition, London, 1972, no. 8;

E.N. Lusanna and L. Faedo (eds.), Il Museo Bardini a Firenze, vol. II, Milan, 1986, cat. 202, pp. 261 and 262, fig. 240;

L. Pisani, Francesco di Simone Ferrucci, Fondazione Carlo Marchi, 2007