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Andrea Riccio

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Exhibition Checklist

Boy with a Goose c. 1515–20 Bronze Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Kunstkammer Cat. No. 32

Riccio based this bronze masterpiece on a fragmentary large-scale ancient marble statue that was missing the boy’s head and the goose’s beak. The boy’s impish jubilation and the squawking bird’s terror are Riccio’s inventions. Wrestling, in noisy and violent embrace, the figures rotate in space, inviting examination from all sides. The bronze is exquisitely tooled. Riccio achieves childhood’s supple plumpness by lightly hammering the bronze surface. The chiseling of each feather evokes the downy slickness that makes birds difficult to hold. This high level of tooling is rare in Riccio’s work. Its effects appear only in the smooth body and minutely articulated coiffure of Riccio's “Abundance”.

Pagan Boy (Sacrificial Servant?) c. 1515–20 Bronze Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Kunstkammer Cat. No. 31

The boy’s classical tunic, small vessel, and decorative garlands identify him as a participant in a ritual pagan sacrifice. Although the figure is just big enough to be an independent statuette, its small size suggests that the Pagan Boy may have belonged to a larger ensemble. As he strides along, the child looks up momentarily, as if at another figure or even the viewer. The crisp costume folds, bold tresses of hair, and weighty foliate garlands are modeled and sketched in the wax with swift, compelling naturalism. The boy’s lively expression and costume form a basis for the attribution of the “Abundance” to Riccio.

“Abundance” c. 1520 (?) Bronze Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence Cat. No. 33

The crowned, seated female nude holds a shell in her right hand. On her left arm she bears a small child and a cornucopia. This attribute-laden figure evokes ancient Roman bronze statuettes of household gods, but the subject remains uncertain. She is traditionally entitled “Abundance.” The goddess’s idealized features resemble those of the nearby terracotta Head of the Madonna — her exuberant child’s those of the Pagan Boy. These formal similarities support the bronze’s attribution to Riccio. However, “Abundance’s” smoothly modeled, grandiose figure and lack of genitalia are somewhat uncharacteristic of Riccio’s female nudes. This is the only solid-cast bronze of such scale currently attributed to the master.

Moses/Zeus Ammon 1513 Bronze Musée Jacquemart-André, Paris Cat. No. 7

This imposing statuette originally crowned a tall marble fountain in the Paduan monastery of Santa Giustina. There Moses gazed downward and appeared to summon water from the rock as he extended his staff (now lost) over the fountain. Riccio’s unusual portrayal replaces Moses’s straight horns with the curved ram’s horns of Zeus Ammon, an Egyptian god. The allusion perhaps refers to the biblical prophet’s triumph over Pharaoh in Egypt. Riccio’s dramatic conflation of biblical and pagan imagery probably also recalled that Santa Giustina was built over an ancient temple to Jupiter (Zeus). Like the monastery itself, Moses symbolized Christianity’s encompassing triumph over ancient cults. The bronze’s rough surface makes the statuette seem an unearthed relic of the ancient past, and gives Moses authenticity as a “Christian idol.”

Penitent Saint Jerome c. 1520–30 Bronze Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Sculpture Collection Cat. No. 3

Jerome, the patron saint of scholars, kneels before a cross of branches (modern) that probably replaced a crucifix. He clutches a stone, beating his chest in penance as he fervently contemplates Christ’s sacrifice. Jerome’s attributes, the lion and bible, rest alongside him. The saint’s face and neck are riven by penitent emotion, yet his powerful torso is ideally muscular. The heavy folds of drapery hanging from his arm and winding low round his hips recall the revealing costume of Jupiter, a classical sovereign god. Riccio’s combination of human frailty and pagan divinity creates a heroic Saint Jerome intended for spiritual emulation by the scholar in his study.

Warrior c. 1513–20 Bronze Private collection, United Kingdom Cat. No. 25

Recent technical study indicates that Riccio fashioned the Warrior and Strigil Bearer using the same model and replicative casting process. These statuettes — identical in origin yet so different in subject and surface modeling — are united in this exhibition for the first time for comparison. The Warrior fixes his sights forward and advances on his attacker, his (now lost) sword and shield at the ready, the curls at his brow tousled in the charge. Riccio broadly models the Warrior’s tensed muscles, particularly in the torso, creating diffused shadows to suggest aggressive motion. Riccio transforms the battling warrior motif from ancient sarcophagus reliefs into a powerful three-dimensional figure.

Strigil Bearer c. 1515–20 Bronze The Collection of Mr. and Mrs. J. Tomilson Hill Cat. No. 26

The Strigil Bearer’s subject was inspired by ancient literary descriptions of a famous lost classical statue. The nude athlete bears the curved strigil (skin scraper) and oil vial used for grooming the body after exercise. His wide stance and elegant gesture present his idealized torso to the viewer. While the Warrior’s modeling is loose, in the Strigil Bearer Riccio meticulously articulates every muscle and coiffed lock of hair. The athlete’s body is overtly displayed, yet his face is introspective: he narrows his eyes and wrinkles his brow in thought. Classically inspired and psychologically complex, this statuette and others here demonstrate Riccio’s contributions to one of the most important artistic genres of his time, the idealized male nude. Continue >>>

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