![\"\"](\"http:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/files\/2012\/06\/Sculpture-b-Tomb-Effigy-Alberto-Pio.jpg\")
<\/a>RS. Tomb Effigy of Alberto Pio<\/p><\/div>\n
Bronze.\u00a0 56 x 167 x 65.4.<\/p>\n
The statue was originally partially gilt.<\/p>\n
Fig.Sculpture a<\/a> PROVENANCE: From his tomb on the left side of the nave of the church of the Cordeliers, Paris.\u00a0 Mus\u00e9e des Monuments fran\u00e7ais, 7 Frimaire an II (27 November 1793).\u00a0 Entered the Louvre in 1816.<\/p>\n LITERATURE:<\/p>\n Dimier, 1900, 123 and n. 4, as of 1535, and certainly Florentine, perhaps by Rustici or by his pupil Lorenzo (Laurent) Naldini (Renaudin or Regnauldin).<\/p>\n Adolfo Venturi, \u201cMiscellanea,\u201d L\u2019Arte<\/em>, VII, 1904, 471, Fig., 472, attributed the statue to Prospero Spani, il Clemente.<\/p>\n Roy, 1921 (1929), as by Rosso, and related to the model for a tomb made by Rosso and mentioned in a document of October-December, 1531.<\/p>\n Kusenberg, 1931, 131, as not by Rosso.<\/p>\n Blunt, 1953, 40, n. 27, found Roy\u2019s argument convincing and thought the tomb may have been designed by Rosso.<\/p>\n Carroll, 1966, 179, n. 48, as not by Rosso.<\/p>\n Laskin, 1971, 256, as not by Rosso.<\/p>\n Jacques Thirion, in EdF<\/em>, 1972, 402-403, no. 552, 404, Fig. (with earlier bibliography), as attributed to Rosso, with reservations, and as not sure that it was executed in France.<\/p>\n Raggio, 1974, 75, as around 1542, far from Rosso and from France, and reminding her of Ammanati.<\/p>\n Ulrich Middledorf, \u201cOn Some Portrait Busts Attributed to Leone Leoni,\u201d BM<\/em>, 117, 1975, 88, as by Rustici, \u201ceven if Rosso furnished the all-over design.\u201d<\/p>\n Mich\u00e8le Beaulieu, Description raisonn\u00e9e des sculptures du Mus\u00e9e du Louvre<\/em>, II, Renaissance fran\u00e7aise<\/em>, Paris, 1978, 165-167, no. 255 (with earlier bibliography), as attributed to Rosso, with reservations.<\/p>\n Carroll, 1987, 35, n. 99, as not by Rosso.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n One time attributed to the fictitious Paul Ponce, the author of this statue has been variously suggested as Rustici, Lorenzo Naldini, Prospero Spani, Rosso, Ammanati, and again Rustici.\u00a0 Beaulieu, remarking on its fine chasing, said it brought to mind the Fontainebleau artists\u2019 studios under the direction of Pierre Bontemps.\u00a0 He also pointed out that the tasseled pillow bent by the weight of the figure\u2019s elbow is a motif frequently found in Rosso\u2019s paintings.\u00a0 While such pillows are found in Rosso\u2019s Piet\u00e0<\/em> in the Louvre and in his Loss of Perpetual Youth<\/em> in the Gallery of Francis I, so, too, is one found in Primaticcio\u2019s Dana\u00eb<\/em> in the same gallery, and in many other French pictures and statues of the sixteenth century.\u00a0 Rosso\u2019s pillows do not seem to be affected by anything weighing upon them.<\/p>\n There is no direct evidence that connects this tomb effigy to the document of October-December, 1531, referring to a model for a tomb requested verbally by Francis I (see L.37<\/a>).\u00a0 Roy\u2019s arguments prove no such relationship.\u00a0 The inscription on the tomb, while it mentioned the count\u2019s association with Francis I, indicated that the tomb was erected by Alberto Pio\u2019s heirs, not by the king.\u00a0 Furthermore, Roy made no attempt to support his hypothesis with any stylistic comparisons.\u00a0 There is an abundant amount of sculpture designed by Rosso in the Gallery of Francis I, and although Rosso may not actually have modeled any of it, the sculpture surely bears the imprint of his imagination and invention.\u00a0 The tomb effigy does not look like any of the sculpture in the gallery, nor like any in other works by him, such as the Design for an Altar<\/em> (Fig.D.38a<\/a>) or the Design for a Tomb<\/em> (Fig.D.81a<\/a>).\u00a0 It also bears no resemblance to Rosso\u2019s Saint Paul and Saint Peter<\/em>, an engraving attributed to Boyvin (Fig.E.8a<\/a>), which may have been designed as sculpture between 1530 and 1532.\u00a0 The whole formal conception of the bronze figure in space appears totally at odds with Rosso\u2019s planar mode of invention.<\/p>\n The surface decoration of the pillow and pad on which the figure lies very much resembles some of the patterns in Francesco Pellegrino\u2019s La Fleur de la Science de Pourtraicture<\/em> of 1530, which, it might be pointed out, was sold \u201cAu logis de monseigneur Le Conte de Carpes\u201d (Fig.Pellegrino, Pattern<\/a>; Fig.Pellegrino, Pattern 2<\/a>).1<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 This kind of decoration is found nowhere in Rosso\u2019s art.\u00a0 Pellegrino was Rosso\u2019s most highly paid assistant in the Gallery of Francis I and worked primarily as a stuccoer.\u00a0 He was a Florentine.\u00a0 The likelihood is that he was a sculptor before Rosso used his talents in the gallery.\u00a0 He was a friend of Rustici, who was introduced to Francis I by Pellegrino.2<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n I cannot say who made this statue.\u00a0 Prospero Spano does not seem likely to me, as he did not to Beaulieu.\u00a0 The attributions to Rustici and Ammanati need further time to resolve, as does the association with Bontemps.\u00a0 I venture to add Pellegrino\u2019s name as a possible candidate.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
\nFig.Sculpture b<\/a><\/p>\n
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