Cleric with Book (possibly Saint Lawrence)
Artist
Giovanni Antonio Amadeo
(Italian, 1447-1522)
Datec. 1480
CultureItalian; Lombard
MediumMarble
ClassificationSculpture
ProvenanceEmile Gavet, Paris (cat. #40, pl. XIII), approximately 1870s-1880s; sold to Mr. and Mrs. William K. and Alva Erskine Smith Vanderbilt, Gothic Room, Marble House, Newport, Rhode Island, 1889-1982; transfered to Mrs. Alva Erskine Smith Vanderbilt Belmont in divorce; purchased by John Ringling, 1928; bequest to The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, 1936
Credit LineBequest of John Ringling, 1936
Object numberSN5358
These Clerics, both beautifully carved, were once joined to a Virgin and Child now in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Distinctive is their angular, energized drapery, sometimes described as "cartaceous" for its resemblance to crumpled paper. They may have originally been carved for the Arc of the Persian Martyrs, a sculptural complex in the church of San Lorenzo in Cremona made to house relics (parts of saint's bodies or objects with which they had contact).
On View
On viewLocation
Dimensions22 1/8 x 11 x 6 in. (56.2 x 27.9 x 15.2 cm)- Museum of Art, Gallery 04
Late 15th century