Count Benedetto Giovanelli von Gerstburg -
Archaeology and erudition in the Italian Tyrol during the first half of the nineteenth century
Part Three
 |
| Fig. 27) The 1858 edition of Benedetto Giovanelli‘s Life of Alessandro Vittoria, edited by Tommaso Gar |
The life of the Trent sculptor Alessandro Vittoria
The largest of the writings of Benedetto
Giovanelli dedicated to the fine arts, i.e. the “Vita di Alessandro Vittoria scultore trentino” [47] (The life of the Trent sculptor
Alessandro Vittoria) was released posthumously in 1858. It was a 159 page
essay, written in 1830.
It is not the goal of this post to analyse the
biography of Alessandro Vittoria (1525–1608) in itself. Instead, we will focus
on the text of Giovanelli to try to assess his capacity to write the biography
of one of the main artists of his hometown (of which he was the lord mayor for
30 years), trying to identify his strength and weaknesses as author of art
literature. In short, we want to understand how a highly cultivated man of power
(though not a professional of art history) wrote on art in 1830.
The text of Giovanelli, published twelve years
after his death, displayed in the front page the caveat that it was "rifuso e accresciuto da Tommaso Gar" (recast and increased by Tommaso Gar). In
fact, the essay on Vittoria was the first volume of a collection entitled 'Biblioteca Trentina’ (The Trent Library),
or a “Collection of rare or previously
unpublished documents relating to the history of Trent, edited by Tommaso Gar
with prefaces, historical speeches and notes” [48].
Tommaso Gar
 |
| Fig. 28) Andrea Malfatti, Bust of Tommaso Gar, about 1884 |
Tommaso Gar [49] (1808 -1871) was a prominent
Italian scholar. He was one of the leading Italian specialists of German
culture in the nineteenth century (Ferdinand Gregorovius wrote in the obituary
dedicated to him in 1871: "I have
never met an Italian who had such a clear judgment and a so deep knowledge
around the German problems") [50]. We owe him the publication of a
vast documentation on the history of the Trent and Venetia regions, which began
in the ten years of activity at the imperial archives in Vienna and then
continued in Padua (where he cooperated with Tommaseo during the anti-Austrian
uprising), Trent (where he was the director of the Municipal library since
1853) and finally, after the unification of Italy, in Naples (where he directed
the university library) and Venice (where he chaired the State Archives).
Comparing his career to the one of Giovanelli (who acquired the power thanks to
the Habsburgs after the fall of the Napoleonic regime and died before the
uprising against Austria in 1848), we are in a different historical phase and physiological mood. For
Giovanelli, studying the history of Trent never meant questioning the Habsburg
rule; for Gar, instead, understanding the past had important implications for
social identity and political structures.
This is made clear in the introduction to the Life, where Gar wrote: "Art is not made for only delight. On the one
hand, art cheers our soul with a faithful and harmonic reproduction of nature,
both in its physical and moral aspects, surrounding and recreating our
existence with amiable feelings and comfortable and elegant objects; on the
other hand, art strengthens the sources of preservation of states, excites and
develops the inventive faculties, leads people to big and kind ideas, and in
fact exerts a direct and salutary influence on our culture and happiness. The
ultimate goal of art, the beauty in the idea and the form, is in substance
nothing else but the supreme expression of the true and ultimate goal of
science” [51]. Therefore, art history is assigned an educational value for
the construction of a new world. Gar used art literature to change the world,
Giovanelli did it to preserve it like it was.
During the years when he published Giovanelli’s
posthumous text on Alessandro Vittoria, Tommaso Gar was living in Trent because
he had been turned away from Venice by the Austrian authorities, having actively
taken part in the insurrection by Daniele Manin. Sent by the latter to Paris as
ambassador of the Republic of San Marco in 1848, he had tried in vain to forge
military alliances with France, and with the revolutionary German and Hungarian
liberals, whose movements were also about to fail. His scholar career in Trent
continued within the public library only because he was under the protection of
those same local noble families of Hapsburg tradition in the Trent region (like
the Sizzos de Noris), whose world Giovanelli too had been part of.
The introduction by Gar explained that the Life of
Vittoria was originally due to be part of a "series of biographies of illustrious Trent citizens, whose portraits had
already been engraved [52]. However, this project did not materialise;
so, when Giovanelli passed away, he left, together with his books and the rich
collection of coins and antiques, also this writing to the Trent Library, from
which it is coming out today for the first time in a less unadorned form, while
preserving the organisation of the original text” [53]. Thus, Gar explains that he left the structure of Giovanelli’s original text substantially unchanged compared to the original version. However, he added to it "certain first-hand memoirs of Vittoria and his will, which are kept
with his other cards at the General Archives of Venice". The book
contains in fact four pages of "published
and unpublished extracts from handwritten memories of Alessandro Vittoria”
[54], a brief communication by Emanuele Cicogna (1789-1868) and Vincenzo
Lazari (1823-1864) with "News about
Alessandro Vittoria” [55] and his testament, also including the inventory
of his assets [56].
The previous biographies
of Vittoria
 |
| Fig. 29) The first book of the Lives of the most famous Venetian architects and sculptors of the XVI century, published by Tommaso Temanza in 1778 |
When Giovanelli wrote the Life of Vittoria in 1830, he was relying on a tradition of
biographers of the artist, dating back to Vasari [57] (1568), Ridolfi [58] (1648) and Temanza [59]
(1778). He also cited another "unknown
author of some biographical notes on Vittoria” [60], on whom he added
nothing. The author also knew "the
two volumes of handwritten memories, now preserved in the General Archives of
Venice” [61], then still unpublished [62]. About them, Giovanelli said that
they contained "even minor facts”
[63] and testified "the little
practice of writing orthographically” [64].
 |
| Fig. 30) The new version of The Life of Alessandro Vittoria by Tommaso Temanza, edited by Giannantonio Moschini in 1827. In the inside front cove, it is displayed a drawing of the self-portrait bust by Vittoria, placed in his tomb in San Zaccaria |
The biographical texts available at Giovanelli’s
time on Vittoria did not include, however, only the writings of the past. Only
a few years before, i.e. in 1827, it had been released in fact a new version of
Temanza’s Life of Alessandro Vittoria. The
revised text did not longer appeared as part of the "Lives of the most famous architects, sculptors and Venetian that
flourished in the sixteenth century" published in 1778 by the Venetian
architect, but as a stand-alone volume devoted exclusively to Vittoria [65]. The
new version, as one may read in the title page, was “ora riprodotta con note ed emende” (now reproduced with notes and amendments)
by Giannantonio Moschini (1773-1840). This editor explained in the
introduction that he had access to the newly rediscovered memoirs of Vittoria
"in the archive of the venerable
nuns of Saint Zaccaria” and could thus document new facts on the life of Vittoria.
By his own admission, however, Moschini (whom Giovanelli defined as a 'most diligent’ [66] scholar) limited himself mainly to
add a series of footnotes to the text of Temanza and avoided making all the
changes that would have been made per se necessary by the discovery of the
autobiographical text.
The purpose: to write
a Trent-based history
Why did Giovannelli write another biography of
Vittoria, since only three years had passed after the publication by Moschini of
the new version of the text by Temanza? Did he want to correct the inaccuracies
that were perhaps still left in the recently released essay? It is once again
Gar to offer us some explanations: "The
work of Temanza, accompanied by a good apparatus of notes, was published again
by Moschini in 1827. Count Benedetto Giovanelli from Trento, the cultivated investigator
of our antiquities, came to the conclusion that there was a need to give
greater precision to the work of Temanza, and that to describe the life of such
a man like Vittoria was very appropriate for someone who was sharing homeland
with him; therefore, he set himself to this passionate office, and performed it
in 1830” [67]. In other words, Giovanelli definitely felt the need for greater
precision in Vittoria’s biography (also because of the new information
contained in the two volumes of memoirs discovered just beforehand); above all,
however, he wanted to provide a Trent-based (and not only Venetian-centric) image
of the artist (contrary to what was the case in the writings in 1778 and 1827).
Probably, he intended to write a text mainly addressed to a local public (as it
was the case of his previous and numerous writings on Latin inscriptions in the
Trent region).
 |
| Fig. 31) Giovanni Battista Moroni, Portrait of Alessandro Vittoria, 1552-1553 |
Giovanelli therefore took the view that, while
the artistic life of Vittoria was especially carried out in the lagoon, his
training had solid bases in the capital of the Italian Tyrol. This was
reflected in the title (The life of the
Trent sculptor Alessandro Vittoria) and in the extensive central section of
the text, from page 45 to page 64, which listed painters, sculptors and
architects operating in Trent in previous decades and those contemporary to
Vittoria. "The egregious number of
good artists that came out from our town in the sixteenth century - says
Giovanelli - has led us to think and to
admit that a school of drawing and sculpture must have been operating here”
[68].
Strengths and
weaknesses of the biography
In the previous two parts of this post we saw
that Giovanelli was often a complex and convoluted writer; his attributions were
most times fanciful; his writings had also hidden political and institutional
purposes. Not surprisingly, many of these limits also appear in the Life of Vittoria.
 |
| Fig. 32) Paolo Veronese, Portrait of Alessandro Vittoria, 1575 |
The text on Vittoria was, obviously, first and
foremost a biography. However, Benedetto made an attempt to free himself from a
simple listing of episodes of the life, and aimed at tracing an history of his
art creation through an accurate review of his works: "A true judgment on a man derives, almost
always, from a comparative examination of his works; likewise, the life of
prominent art makers may be reduced in most cases to the history of their main
artistic labours, of the occasions for them, of the conditions of the time and
the land, which saw them born or educated them, and of the major or minor
difficulties they had to overcome to succeed. Hence, when weaving the life of
Vittoria after around three centuries, we will also stick mainly to mentioning
his works that most recommend him to the memory and to the admiration of posterity"
[69]. The intention is
therefore to write a text that, while displaying an episode of the history of
Trent, also had the dignity of a critical study on art.
 |
| Fig. 33) Palma the Younger, Portrait of a sculptor (Alessandro Vittoria?), 1600-1605 |
Based on the examination of the works, the
overall assessment on Vittoria is overwhelmingly positive: "The merits of Vittoria’s works in sculpture
are so sublime, that it will be difficult to overcome them: property of design,
grace and beauty of limbs, soft and polished nakedness of muscles with all the
specific features of the anatomy, at the same time graceful and proud
movements; in females, fleshy and round limbs; in cherubs, a sweet and serene
air; a most natural motion of heads and turn of clothes; well-chosen folds, without those deformed and exaggerated
extensions, which many times one can find even in the statues of the great
masters; wonderful marble tracery, and a finitude that does not let shine the
art effort; and finally, such a truth and expression, that only breath and word
would be missing to let the statues become alive” [70].
 |
| Fig. 34) The catalogue of the Trent exhibition in 1999 |
That positive view is still prevalent in Trent,
which considers Victoria as one of its most illustrious citizens. See for
example the catalogue of the exhibition "La bellissima maniera. Alessandro
Vittoria e la scultura veneta del Cinquecento” (The most beautiful manner. Alessandro Vittoria and Venetian sculpture
of the sixteenth century), held in Trent at the Buonconsiglio Castle between 25
June and 26 September 1999 [71].
 |
| Fig. 35) Alessandro Vittoria, Self-portrait in marble (including the grave, which he started in 1566), Church of San Zaccaria, Venice |
And yet it must be said that, in giving the
impression of a broad critical ability of the then Lord Mayor of Trent, the
above mentioned passage of the Life
is deceiving. In reality, the Life of
Vittoria proves that Giovanelli lacked the ability to write a history of art
style, as well as to identify an artist in terms of its interaction with the
art schools of his time. In other words, this text has not become (and could
have never been) one of the defining moments of the history of writing on art,
which was making strides in both the Italian and in the German cultural world
in those years (as we have already mentioned in part one of this post,
Giovanelli made the acquaintance of the young Carl Friedrich von Rumohr, one of
the 'inventors' of art history, in Rome in 1806).
 |
| Fig. 36) Alessandro Vittoria, Bust of Ottavio Grimani, about 1570 |
It is quite obvious that the first goal of the Life was to proclaim Vittoria as the
greatest sculptor in art history since Michelangelo, and indeed even to come to
say that he would have probably even beaten Buonarroti, if he had only had the
possibility to travel to Florence (as recommended by his teacher in Trent [72])
and above all to Rome, thus directly confronting himself with Roman classicism.
"If then Alessandro Vittoria (who
combined so well sweetness with severity, in his St. Jerome and in the St.
Sebastian shot with arrows at the column) had seen the city of the classical
wonders, and the Laocoon and the Hercules and Cleopatra, and the great Belvedere
Torso, and the Alcide and the Venus and the Apollo; and if he had had the
possibility to study those wonders of Greek and Roman art; if his environment
had been – in sum – the eternal Florence and Rome, how greater would have been
the excellence which he achieved?” [73] These words of Giovanelli clearly reflect an art
culture inspired by neoclassicism.
 |
| Fig. 37) Alessandro Vittoria, Saint Sebastian, Montefeltro Chapel at San Francesco della Vigna 1563, Venice |
Today we are considering Vittoria as a mannerist
artist; therefore, we often refer to his style dependence on Michelangelo.
Giovanelli took instead the view (in my view, rightly so) that Vittoria had
produced a different and alternative sculpture, compared to the one of Michelangelo:
"Of course, if we wanted to make a
useful contrast among the sculpture works of this century, to judge which
artists shared genius and taste for art, this might occur with particular
success among the works sculpted by Vittoria and Buonarroti. Although this
Florentine artist exceeded all others in power and breadth of knowledge in the
three sister arts at a time; and his sculptures showed him so divine and
terrible in expressing vigorously and in various ways the force of muscles and
nerves, yet he lacked almost constantly those graces who were driving the hand
and the heart of our Vittoria and made his works so singular” [74].
 |
| Fig. 38) Alessandro Vittoria, Bust of Cardinal Gasparo Contarini, Church of Madonna dell'Orto, Venice around 1563. Photo from Wikicommons |
 |
| Fig. 39) Left: Alessandro Vittoria, Bust of Cardinal Gasparo Contarini, the Church of Madonna dell'Orto, Venice around 1563. Source: Luigi Serra, Art retrospective: the centennial jubilee of Alessandro Vittoria, Emporium, Vol. XXVII, no. 162, p. 437, 1908 (http://www.artivisive.sns.it/galleria/libro.php?volume=XXVII&pagina=XXVII_162_437.jpg). Right: A. Wolf, engraving from the bust of Cardinal Gasparo Contarini by Alessandro Vittoria. Source: Zeitschrift zur Bildende Kunst, No. 8, 1877, page 232 |
Although behind the reference to the concept of
'grace' there was perhaps the intuition that, differently from Michelangelo, Vittoria
had a more ornamental taste and a greater focus on the descriptive function of
sculptures, Giovanelli missed the necessary dialectical skills to articulate an
independent judgment on art and to justify his intuitions on the basis of formal
arguments on style. He might have perhaps observed that, while in Michelangelo
each painting also looked like a piece of sculpture, Vittoria’s art produced
the quite contrary impression: each sculpture seems to be a painting, like if
it provided a three-dimensional image of a two-dimensional decorative project.
The emphasis in Vittoria is on contour and shape, but certainly not on space, revealing
an intention which is never to offer a sense of volume and is often, instead,
linked to a descriptive mission. It is no coincidence that Vittoria dedicated himself
so strongly to produce celebrating or memorial portraits (and even
self-portraits) in the form of marble busts, a genre to which Michelangelo
never paid attention. It is very striking, for instance, that the nineteenth
and eighteenth century drawings and etchings offer a more compelling
representation of his marble busts in the Contarini Chapel of the Church of the
Madonna dell'Orto in Venice than the twentieth-century and contemporary
photographs, confirming that the design dominates on the volume. These are formal
features which, across the eighteenth and the nineteenth centuries, i.e. in the
era of the idea of sculpture as a representation of beauty and harmony (think about
Canova), made Vittoria an extremely modern artist. It seems that also Giovanelli
saw continuities between Vittoria and the ideals of neoclassicism: "Vittoria was able to combine so much
perfection in the arts with the merit of sticking to the pure ideal of
spiritual beauty, respecting modesty in all his works. It was a rare virtue in
all times, but in that age particular, when many others belittled their chisel
and their brushes with the filthiest ugliness" [75].
Not being able to justify the idea of the
primacy of Vittoria in analytical terms, Giovanelli often used the technique of
citing the assessment of others, as if it were the multiplicity of testimonies
to substantiate the merits of the artist. To this aim, he gave the floor to the
artist's peers. So he recalled that, according to Pietro Aretino, Vittoria
"gave spirit to marbles"
[76]. He added the opinion of Vasari: "No
other art creator should boast he had ever made live more beautiful marble
portraits than Alessandro Vittoria did; since, in truth, they seem more like
human heads, than petrified things worked out with the chisel” [77]. He
then gave the floor to Bottari: "It
was one of the greatest sculptors who honoured Italy" [78]. And
finally, he replicated Ridolfi’s assessment: "Alessandro Vittoria made it clear that, while it is not possible to
turn stones into men - if not in fables - it is still possible to manipulate
marbles so that they look like breathing persons” [79].
 |
| Fig. 40) Alessandro Vittoria, Stucco decoration in the Sala dei Principi, Palazzo Thiene, Vicenza, 1551-1553 |
Also when drawing the reader's attention on
individual art works, Giovanelli preferred to resort more often to extensive
quotations (often an entire page long) from other authors than to his own
judgment. In some cases, the reference to the judgment of others is obviously needed,
because the works were lost and only previous authors were able to make
judgments about them; in other cases, I thought he may perhaps have not viewed
the work. In most cases, however, it seems he wanted to use the tool of a
citation in order to make sure he expresses consistent and complex formal
judgments on art. Here are some examples: he reproduced a whole page by Temanza
to describe a stucco decoration in Thiene Palace in Vicenza [80]; he used a
quote, always from Temanza, to praise the caryatids at the gate of the Marciana
Library in Venice [81]. Lastly, he quoted a long passage of Cicognara to express
himself on the (lost) wooden carvings in the Church of San Spirito in Venice [82] and once again an assessment by Temanza
on the Golden Staircase at the Palazzo Ducale in Venice [83].
 |
| Fig. 41) Alessandro Vittoria, St. John, 1570, Cathedral of Treviso |
 |
| Fig. 42) Alessandro Vittoria, Saint Zaccaria, 1590. Church of San Zaccaria, Venice |
To describe the statue of Saint John in the
Cathedral of Treviso, he let inspire himself by the idea of the work's
verisimilitude to the biblical story, but he also wanted to make some technical
notations on the composition of the figure. To this end he reproduced in full a long
passage from the ''most erudite Cicro, canon of that city" [84]. And to
give the reader an impression of the relief of the Assumption in the Frari
church in Venice, i.e. "one of the
most wonderful and most celebrated works among those which come out from the
chisel up to that time", he combined a page of Vasari with one of Temanza,
noting that the second was "more
detailed and precise” [85]; then he added that "only
two figures have remained of this most distinguished work; however, they are
placed in two niches, so that they are not really very visible to the eyes of
the experts; and yet, they are so beautiful” [86]. Finally, he still left
to Temanza the task of singing the praises of the statue of Saint Zaccaria.
 |
| Fig. 43) Alessandro Vittoria, St. Jerome, 1560-1565. Source: Luigi Serra, Art retrospective: the centennial jubilee of Alessandro Vittoria, Emporium, Vol. XXVII, no. 162, p. 434, 1908 http://www.artivisive.sns.it/galleria/libro.php?volume=XXVII&pagina=XXVII_162_435.jpg |
In some cases, however, the Count expressed his
own aesthetic assessments, by combining formal considerations on the
composition with a direct reference to the verisimilitude of the scene, i.e.
the artist's ability to describe the circumstances. He did so in particular
with regard to the St. Jerome in the Frari Church of Venice, or to one of the
statues of Vittoria which are most influenced by Michelangelo in style,
although Benedetto wanted here to emphasize the independence from the
Buonarroti model: "Therefore, here
you can detect the inner soul clearly shining from the expression of his face:
you can perceive, in his grim body, an exquisite arrangement of limbs, a very
natural move; the relief of the naked muscles is shown with ease; the few and
uneven clothes, covering the loins, are represented in simple and grandiose
folds; the bony legs and arms are beautifully perforated by the chisel, and the
left arm is almost completely severed from marble; and yet nothing is hard and
rough, and the correlation of the junctures is the most exact, and harmony and
proportion of parts are so beautiful that you are more inspired than you may see
here. The holy old is displayed with all the force of an experienced man,
fortified by studies and contemplation, and with all the majesty of somebody
inspired by heaven. In front of the den of Paul, he is keeping with the left
hand the first authentic book of the Life of the hermits at the height of the
hip, and holding with the right hand a stone. Actually, he is strongly beating
his own chest, tanned by the Palestine sun, raising his terrible voice to call
everybody to humble themselves and pay penance in those solitudes, where no
other footprints but those of wild beasts can be found, and where he had as a
companion that lion with a thick mane, which you can see majestically lying at
his feet. Make sure you do not hear the beast roaring! It would not look like
less alive and less terrible, than it happened to Liutprand, the ambassador of
Berengar at the court of Constantine Porphyrogenitus, when he heard the bronze
lion roaring. Except that from the way, in which the lion is laying, from his
expression and his generous affection, you will understand that the lion is the
servant of the hermit in the austere desert” [87].
Yet, the (even lexical) difficulty of the
author to express himself in a structured manner on the artworks is obvious. Everywhere
across the Life, the constant
reference to the superlative as a mood to express judgement to describe the
beauty of each work is certainly the consequence of the stilted Italian style
of those years, but it also seems to imply an inability, even cultural, to
formulate a graduation in terms of aesthetics between masterpieces (like the St.
Jerome) and other less important works. Giovanelli, in sum, introduces the
reader to the figure of an extremely prolific artist, always describing him, however,
as the author of superlative works. Now, it is impossible that such a prolific
sculptor only produced masterpieces.
 |
| Fig. 44) Alessandro Vittoria, Four apostles, St. Lawrence Cathedral (Traù-Trogir), 1559 |
 |
| Fig. 45) Alessando Vittoria, Saint Sebastian, about 1566 |
Here are some examples of the use of the
superlative: at Palazzo Montanari in Vicenza, Vittoria "carved two statues with figures of two old
men representing rivers, which are called bellissimi (most beautiful)” [88];
“and at that time he also made a Mercury,
which responds above the square, and was generally held for a bellissima
(most beautiful) statue” [89]; “in 1555, he
did for the Trogir cathedral in Dalmatia four apostles of stone, high five feet
each; and they are the più belle (most
beautiful) works which you can admire in
the cathedral” [90]; “the Contarini
tomb, which Vasari called bellissimo (most
beautiful) and rich of ornaments and serious
composition” [91]; “in the same year,
he portrayed a great Saint Sebastian in wax, which seems to have been ordered
by Bartolomeo Dalla Nave; after having seen the wax specimen, he wanted it to
be cast in bronze, and managed it benissimo (very well)” [92].
 |
| Fig. 46) Alessandro Vittoria, Palazzo Balbi (now Guggenheim), 1582-1590, Venice. Source: Luigi Serra, Art retrospective: the centennial jubilee of Alessandro Vittoria, Emporium, Vol. XXVII, no. 162, p. 431, 1908. Source: http://www.artivisive.sns.it/galleria/libro.php?volume=XXVII&pagina=XXVII_162_431.jpg |
Giovanelli could however not avoid the problem
of what is good and what is less valuable in the work of Vittoria concerning
his architectural works, as they were exposed to widespread criticism already at
the times of Milizia [93]. Evidently their eclecticism did not fit with the
classical taste of the time.
 |
| Fig. 47) Alessandro Vittoria, along with Antonio and Tommaso Contin, St. Jerome School or Institute of Sciences, Arts and Letters, Venice, 1592-1600 |
Well, Giovanelli solved the dilemma, by saying
that the great artists should only be judged on the basis of their best
products; in fact, he certified in this way that there is no legitimacy for art
criticism: "In other architectural
works, he was found quite odd: sometimes he was not accurate enough, and
sometimes too complex, in particular in the facades. And still, who would say
that there is nothing good in all the architectural works of Vittoria? And who would
say that the works of the other most famous architects are all perfect in every
part? The genius of an art creator should not be judged on the basis of those
aspects, where, deciding to leave the ordinary world, he revolted against the
school or the triumphing taste of the century, or disdained to accommodate the
composition to the style of the other reputed masters; although in all the rest
he may have observed the true and good method to fabricate. But the artist
should be judged against those parts in which he made very well; because they
are the right measure of the degree to which his virtue increased; and where
this cannot be explained, or where one sees a defect, it must be assumed that
special reasons, which cannot be attributed entirely to him, compelled him to
deviate from the best that he would have been able to achieve.” [94]
 |
| Fig. 48) Alessandro Vittoria, Stucco vault of the staircase of the Marciana Library, 1559-1560. Source: Ricordo di Alessandro Vittoria, scultore trentino (Remembering Alessandro Vittoria, the Trent sculptor), Bologna and Modena, Formiggini, 1908. https://archive.org/stream/ricordodialessan00vitt#page/n3/mode/2up |
The area where the Count seemed to have the
most independent judgment was the stucco decorations (a theme on which also
Temanza focused equally broadly). He defined the stucco art works of Vittoria
"a so candid and strong stucco, that his works – while being of such
material – seem to be marble” [95]. He strengthened his own judgment by referring to Palladio’s
favourable opinion [96], as the latter entrusted to Vittoria some decorative
tasks of the ceilings in some noble houses in Vicenza. Then he said that Alessandro
exceeded "any other into this kind
of art, and all greatest architects competed to procure to him the ornament of
his work” [97]. He compared the stuccos of the Palazzo Bissari-Arnaldi [98]
(lost during the Second World
War), the Palazzo Montanari [99] and Palazzo Thiene; he also contrasted the
stuccos of the monumental staircase of the Marciana Library [100] and those of the Golden Staircase
at the Palazzo Ducale in Venice and concluded to prefer the latter: "In fact, the stucco decoration of these
stairs of the palace are of a much better taste than those of the Library; they
are less detected and less heavy, they are produced with significant grace and
smoothness; and the allotment is so majestic and noble, that nothing more
remains to be added” [101].
 |
| Fig. 49) Alessandro Vittoria, Stucco of the Golden Staircase at the Doge's Palace, Venice, 1556-1557 |
A testimony of the lost
works
While Giovanelli’s biography revealed
weaknesses in his ability to write on art, from an art history point of view
the Life of the Trent sculptor Alessandro
Vittoria also documented, however, a large number of works which, in the
nineteenth century, were already destroyed or lost. For example, Benedetto
referred to the works produced during the months following his quarrel with
Sansovino, when he retired to Trent to his father's house. In the hometown, he
realized "the portrait in marble of
Cardinal Madruzzo, and the clay portrait of his father and some lords and
prelates of the Council. But of all these busts, nowadays not a single one has
survived, nor it is known what happened to them or in the hands of whom they
find themselves” [102]. Even in Venice, many of his works were lost: at the end of a long list,
the author noted: "Venice suffered
serious physical injuries for the loss of many masterpieces, but particularly
for those of Vittoria” [103]. In some cases, as in the Church of Frari, the disappearance of the
works was relatively recent, due to a clumsy restoration: "Also here, in the magnificent high altar,
says the Moschini [in 1827], there was a marble frame adorned with various
bronzes, among which there were also two statues representing Malacchia and
Melchisedecco, each with the name of Vittoria, their author: however, the
changes recently practiced in that altar destroyed such very famous works for
excellence of the execution and beauty of contrapposto and comparison. These
are irreparable losses, which workers of the churches and rectors of
public places should also remember as a warning, so that before changing or
transporting art objects, one should consult the experts" [104]. Many
works were also lost in Treviso; they were quoted by Giovanelli drawing
information from the authors of the local art literature: Mauro
[105] in 1500, Burchelati
[106] in 1600 and Father
Federici [107[ in the early 1800.
Trent as an autonomous
centre of Renaissance art
 |
| Fig. 50) Bartholomäus Bruyn the Elder, Portrait of Bernardo Clesio, 1530 |
Giovanelli already took the view in the first
pages of the Life that Trento was a
Renaissance art centre. In fact – he wrote – the father of Alessandro, now resigned
following the child's resistance to a legal education, entrusted the son to the
"masters Martino of Como and Antonio
Modalia from Upper Pelo, who were working in the marble quarries of the Trent
province for the superb fabric of the bishop's residence, which was then being
built by order of the Cardinal, and Prince bishop of Trento, Bernardo Clesio.
They are those same craftsmen who, by
order of this prelate, had erected the sumptuous marble temple of Santa Maria
Maggiore in Trent and that of the next
villa of Civezzano, and also set forth the octagonal dome that towers above the
main altar of the Cathedral: when we
ignore the names of the authors of these fabrics, their works testify the sum
of the skills of the performers” [108]. It must be said that the dome of the Duomo of
Trent, authored by Lucio from Como, was rebuilt in the nineteenth century in a
neo-Romanesque style, thus erasing all traces of the sixteenth century
construction which Giovanelli refers to.
 |
| Fig. 51) Vincenzo Grandi, Choir in Santa Maria Maggiore, 1537-1541, Trent |
Giovanelli instead attributed to an unknown
biographer the information that Vittoria had been the apprentice of Vincenzo Grandi
[109], the author of the choir of Santa Maria Maggiore (to be precise, Vincenzo
Grandi signed the choir as Vincenzo Vicentino, i.e. from Vicenza, but was also
active in Padua and was therefore also called Padovano).
These look like simple biographical references
to the local masters of Vittoria, but Giovanelli’s intention went much further:
for him the fact that Vittoria had origins in Trento implied that there must
have been a local art school of the highest quality in the town. As already
mentioned, according to Giovanelli there must have been a school of "drawing and sculpture [110]” in the sixteenth century’s Trent:
"Vittoria drew the rudiments of his
art first of all from this school. Without it, we would not be able to explain
how Vittoria, in the short study period of just over two years in the school of
Sansovino, could have been able to form a style of such excellence, which was
already revealed by his works of that period, like the bas-relief in the
Arnaldi Palace in Vicenza and the figures of the four rivers” [111].
This opens a long parenthesis on "works of the chisel, which we have in Trent
of that century” [112], with a several pages long list of references to
largely decorative works (such as cherubs, frames, stuccos, fireplaces, gates).
This section obviously makes extensive reference to the above mentioned choir
of Santa Maria Maggiore by Vincenzo Grandi, said Padovano [113], but most
citations refer to now lost sculptures: "These works were all made in that fortuned century, in which Alessandro
Vittoria flourished, and bear witness that this part of Italy, nestled among
the mountains, was never deprived of eminent men who may adorn the nation. We
ignore most of the names of these authors, because they fell into oblivion, due
to the decay of the arts and because of the wars and the plagues of the
following centuries. Against such a loss it should, however, be a consolation
to see that the blame is far away from us, and that the present generation is
animated to repair this: the municipal representations and the municipalities
of the Trent region and individuals are competing in the preservation of old
monuments and the erection of new ones” [114].
 |
| Fig. 52) Titian, Portrait of Cardinal Cristiano Madruzzo, 1552 |
The section on sculpture are followed by a list
of painters active in Trento (like Falconetto [115]) and especially those called to work at the
Buonconsiglio Castle by Cardinal Bernardo Clesio (Romanino, Palma the Younger,
Bruciasorci) [116] and then by Cardinal Cristoforo Madruzzo (among them Titian
and Dosso Dossi and his brother Battista) [117]. Also here, the concern for
heritage conservation prevails: "Most
of these paintings are degraded, and some almost wasted, because they were
exposed for centuries to bad weather. It also fills the soul with bitterness
seeing that the hand of man has often conspired to this destruction”
[118]. The section on
arts in Trent during the Renaissance concludes with a list of the architects who
worked in the town, with references to periods spent in the city by Sansovino
and Palladio and again Falconetto [119].
A last section is then dedicated to the art
history of Trent before Renaissance. "It
seems that in Trent the art of drawing and sculpture had a much higher origin
that usually is not suspected by scholars. This is hinted by some ancient
paintings in the interior of the Cathedral and on the facades of the houses,
and some sculpture works” [120]. It is evident that the material collected by Giovanelli in the
manuscripts 1261 and 1262 kept in Innsbruck (see the second part of this post)
must have served for the following compilation, which occupies some pages of
the Life of Vittoria.
Among so many quotations, it should be noted
the all in all very limited space dedicated to Andrea Pozzo, who simply appears
as "our painter and architect"
and for which the only reference is to the "most excellent prospects” [121] without any more than these two
words. Perhaps, in the neo-classical Trent 1830 Pozzo was not highly valued.
Trent and the private
life of Vittoria
Although Giovanelli wanted to write a Trent-based
history of Victoria, the Life ended
up revealing that his relations with the home town were not as frequent as Giovanelli would have wished. Even today, the beautiful catalogue of the
above-mentioned exhibition on Alessandro Vittoria and the Venetian sculpture of
the sixteenth century, held at the Buonconsiglio Castle in 1999, includes a
short essay by Lia Camerlengo on "Alessandro
Vittoria from Trent" [122] which in reality reveals the paucity of the
interplay, despite the discovery of new documentary materials.
The Life
by Giovanelli opened with a reference to his rebellious youth [123] and, as it has been said, to his training
with craftsmen or masters from Trent. The artist moved almost immediately to
Venice, where he worked in the workshop of Sansovino. When (after nine years of
apprenticeship in Venice) he broke relations with his teacher, he first returned
to Trent, where he was "welcomed by the
old and blind father with tears of joy” [124]. However, he remained in the
city only for a few months (and the works attributed to him in that period of
that period are lost [125]). Once his father died, he finally decided to move on
to Treviso.
After having established anew good personal relations
with Sansovino, he returned to Venice, but profited of a business trip to Trent
to marry Paola Venturini, originally from a family of Riva [126]. After the
death of his first wife, he married a second time, and "led the new companion to see the city where
he was born; he introduced her to friends and relatives, and made her know
every impression that aroused in the soul from the memory of the childhood
years” [127]. Moreover, Vittoria took advantage of the honeymoon to bring new
young apprentices with him to Venice (like Andrea Dall'Aquila and many others
[128]), who would help him in
the realization of Venetian works.
Finally, he made a last trip to Trento in 1577,
at the age of 52. He was once again accompanied by his wife. "Alessandro found his homeland in some decay,
for the damage that the currents plagues had brought, for the horrible famine
of the previous year, owing to disastrous flooding of the Adige river, and for
the stagnation of trade. Yet, he would have liked to end the life here, and be
the founder or restorer of new useful institutions, if suddenly, for reasons
that we shall say, he had not been forced to return to Venice” [129]: the
reason was the burning of the Palazzo Ducale, which made it necessary to make
some restoration works. In the last thirty years of his life Vittoria did
not see Trent any more.
Despite all efforts, Giovanelli’s attempt as
biographer to create a second centre of Vittoria's artistic life in Trent
cannot but fail. There he was almost unknown beyond family circles, while in
Venice he enjoyed "universal esteem”
[130]. It is obvious that the artist's heart was now in the lagoon. This is
proven by the network of relationships intertwining the sculptor and architect with
all artists who animated the Venetian cultural life. Giovanelli did not
hesitate to call them as "the Venice
friends” [131]: Sansovino, Titian, Tintoretto, Palma the Younger and many
others. On the first two, who belonged to a previous generation, he wrote that
they were "close friends and almost
seconds fathers” [132].
In Venice, Vittoria was an established and
celebrated artist (much more than he is today). In 1593 the art community of
the lagoon celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of his artistic activity since
his arrival in town [133]. In 1597, a series of busts and statues of Vittoria were
located in the antechamber of the Marciana Library, as a sort of museum, and the
artist was given "full power” [134]
to organize the room. In Trent
nobody remembered him any more at that time.
Conclusions
By crossing different sources and texts, we
discovered the figure of Count Benedetto Giovanelli, member of the Giovanelli von Gerstburg family, and his writings on Trent and the territory around it. He was
a singular figure of a nobleman who in the first part of his life - in the
years when Napoleon expanded his power throughout Europe - embodied an active
anti-revolutionary, and therefore anti-French, stance. However in 1810 he took
a significantly different position, when he published a text supporting the integration
of Trent in the Italian Kingdom. In the second part of his life, Giovanelli exercised
power as Lord mayor of Trent without any interruption between 1816 and 1846. These
were three decades during which the fundamental interests of the local nobility
and those of the House of Habsburg were basically aligned in the name of the conservation
of traditional values. And clearly Giovanelli was a man of the Restoration.
In this world, Giovanelli distinguished himself
for erudition and interest in the local culture. As we wrote in the first part of this post, he was a scholar of the ancient world – from pre-Roman to
mediaeval times – and wrote several essays in Italian and German to describe,
based on the epigraphic evidence, the role that his region had as logistics and
military centre in the Roman empire, to join the Latin
and Germanic worlds. In the second part of the post we have seen that he also
compiled documentation concerning the artistic heritage of Trent, however
revealing serious inaccuracies in his attributions and - in general - assigning
the works in Trent to the main painters of the Italian Renaissance, while they
were creations of important artists, who however did not have the same rank. At
the end of this path, we examined The
life of the Trent sculptor Alessandro Vittoria, his main work on fine arts,
which was completed in 1830 but published posthumously in 1858. It was a very
rich research, which aimed to anchor Vittoria, active in Venice, also in his
past in Trent. He considered him the greatest sculptor of all time after
Michelangelo. The writing also offered the reader a broad picture of the art
scene in town during the Renaissance.
Certainly, the writings by Giovanelli reveal
all the limits of his cultural background. He was neither an art expert nor a
historian. His works did not reveal enough depth to mark the birth of a new
stream of local art history. His prose was characterized by very detailed pages
and sometimes by truly never ending enumerations lasting entire pages, within
which he suddenly opened brackets with discussions on more general themes.
At the same time, the writings of Giovanelli
testify to the cultural force of localism, which was and has remained since a
cornerstone of Italian culture, and therefore the interest of the territory for
its own local history, including on art history. This was not only a scholarly
passion. Clearly, the Trent Count researched the history of his territory also
to identify reference points allowing him to reconcile the many identities
belonging to the Austro-Hungarian Empire with the deep bond linking Trent with the
Venetian culture. He managed the local administration for thirty years, and
thus he must have had a deep knowledge of both the interests of the Habsburg
in Vienna and the local preferences (in Trent and Innsbruck). He was certainly
aware of the benefits and the constraints deriving from belonging to the
empire, including the relations between Trent and the other Italian-speaking territories
(Milan, Venice) directly included in the Austro-Hungarian empire. He was
therefore fully conscious of the historical and political complexity of the identity
of the Italian Tyrol.
In aesthetic terms, the works of Giovanelli
revealed his participation in the neoclassical culture, but bear witness, at
least indirectly, that the taste of time was changing, for instance when Count
Malfatti invited Hayez to the town. We have reserved some space (in the second part
of the post) to the Trent works of Francesco Hayez, and the controversy that
their previous exhibit at the Brera Gallery caused in Milano in 1831. Even from
a genuinely more political perspective, the world was rapidly changing.
Immediately after the death of Giovanelli, the events of 1848 deeply modified
the overall set of political interests in Trent. When The life of the Trent sculptor Alessandro Vittoria was printed by
Tommaso Gar in 1858, the alignment of interests between Trent and the Viennese
world was probably vanishing. Gar was an anti-Austrian patriot, clearly taking
position in favour of Italian unification against the Hapsburg. He had a deep
knowledge of the German-speaking world, but admired above all the attempts of
German revolutionaries first and Bismarck later on to achieve unity at the cost
of Vienna. The world of the Trent Count was about to disappear.
NOTES
[47] Vita di Alessandro Vittoria scultore Trentino composta dal Conte Benedetto
dei Giovanelli e rifusa e accresciuta da Tommaso Gar, Trent, Tipografia
Monuani, pages II-139. The
text is available at the internet address
[48] The Biblioteca
Trentina (Trento Library) was originally planned with twelve volumes. Only
six of them were released. In addition to the Life of Vittoria, the include also the Historical research regarding the authority and jurisdiction of the
consular magistrate of Trent (1858), the Statute of the city of Trent (1858), the Statute of the city of Rovereto (1859), the Annals of the Principality Church of Trent 1022-1540 (1860) and the
Statute of the town of Riva (1861).
[49] See the item ‘Alessandro Vittoria’ in the Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (Biographic
Dictionary of the Italians) edited by Treccani:
[50] See the item ‘Alessandro Vittoria’ in the Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (Biographic
Dictionary of the Italians) edited by Treccani:
[51] Vita di Alessandro
Vittoria scultore Trentino, ... (quoted), p. I.
[52] To be precise, 12 engravings were prepared, and
the goal was to write a collective history of all these personalities. See:
Barzetti, Giovanni Battista - Della Storia E Della Condizione D'Italia Sotto Il
Governo Degli Imperatori Romani, Padova, Minerva, 1810, 630 pages, quotation at
page xv. https://books.google.de/books?id=PYxMAAAAMAAJ&pg=PR15&dq=alessandro+vittoria+giovanelli&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjKwsqm6avRAhXCVhQKHSrnBGU4ChDoAQg1MAU#v=onepage&q=alessandro%20vittoria%20giovanelli&f=false
[53] Vita di Alessandro
Vittoria scultore Trentino, ... (quoted), p. II
[54] Vita di Alessandro
Vittoria scultore Trentino, ... (quoted), pp. 115-118.
[55] Vita di Alessandro
Vittoria scultore Trentino, ... (quoted), pp. 119-120.
[56] Vita di Alessandro
Vittoria scultore Trentino, ... (quoted), pp. 121-139.
[57] Vasari, Giorgio - Le
vite de' più eccellenti architetti, pittori, et scultori italiani, da Cimabue
insino a' tempi nostri (Lives of the Most Eminent Painters Sculptors &
Architects, from Cimabue until our days), 1550 and 1568
[58] Ridolfi, Carlo - Le Maraviglie
dell'arte: overo le vite de gl'illustri pittori veneti, e dello stato (The wonders
of art: or the lives of the illustrious painters of Venice and its state), 1648.
[59] Temanza, Tommaso - Vite
dei più celebri architetti, e scultori veneziani che fiorirono nel secolo
decimosesto (Lives of the most famous Venetian architects and sculptors who
flourished in the sixteenth century), C. Palese, 1778
[60] Vita di Alessandro
Vittoria scultore Trentino, ... (quoted), p. 5.
[61] Vita di Alessandro
Vittoria scultore Trentino, ... (quoted), p. 19. The memoirs are quoted at pages 6; 10; 29; and
78.
[62] The memoirs were published by Riccardo Predelli
1908. Predelli Riccardo - Le memorie e le carte di Alessandro Vittoria,
Trento, Casa Editrice G. Zippel, 1908, 215 pagine.
[63] Vita di Alessandro
Vittoria scultore Trentino, ... (quoted), p. 19.
[64] Vita di Alessandro
Vittoria scultore Trentino, ... (quoted), p. 111.
[65] The 1827 version is available at:
[66] Vita di Alessandro
Vittoria scultore Trentino, ... (quoted), p. 19.
[67] Vita di Alessandro
Vittoria scultore Trentino, ... (quoted), p. II.
[68] Vita di Alessandro
Vittoria scultore Trentino, ... (quoted), p. 45.
[69] Vita di Alessandro
Vittoria scultore Trentino, ... (quoted), p. 18.
[70] Vita di Alessandro
Vittoria scultore Trentino, ... (quoted), p. 108.
[71] La bellissima maniera: Alessandro Vittoria e la scultura veneta del
Cinquecento (The most beautiful manner: Alessandro Vittoria and the
Venetian sculpture in the Sixteenth Century), edited by Andrea Bacchi; Lia
Camerlengo; Manfred Leithe-Jasper and others; Provincia autonoma di Trento, Servizio
beni culturali: Castello del Buonconsiglio, Monumenti e collezioni provinciali,
1999, p. 471.
[72] Vita di Alessandro
Vittoria scultore Trentino, ... (quoted), p. 5.
[73] Vita di Alessandro
Vittoria scultore Trentino, ... (quoted), p. 101.
[74] Vita di Alessandro
Vittoria scultore Trentino, ... (quoted), p. 51.
[75] Vita di Alessandro
Vittoria scultore Trentino, ... (quoted), p. 64.
[76] Vita di Alessandro
Vittoria scultore Trentino, ... (quoted), p. 6.
[77] Vita di Alessandro
Vittoria scultore Trentino, ... (quoted), p. 40.
[78] Vita di Alessandro
Vittoria scultore Trentino, ... (quoted), p. 101.
[79] Vita di Alessandro
Vittoria scultore Trentino, ... (quoted), p. 101.
[80] Vita di Alessandro
Vittoria scultore Trentino, ... (quoted), p. 15.
[81] Vita di Alessandro
Vittoria scultore Trentino, ... (quoted), p. 17.
[82] Vita di Alessandro
Vittoria scultore Trentino, ... (quoted), p. 24. The text of Cicognara is actually contained in
a footnote on page 287 in the pages of the fourth book of his History of Sculpture
(see:
[83] Vita di Alessandro
Vittoria scultore Trentino, ... (quoted), p. 27.
[84] Lorenzo Crico,
Indicazione delle pitture ed altri oggetti di belle arti degni d’osservazione
esistenti nella regia città di Treviso, Treviso, Andreola, 1829. Quotation at
p. 34.
[85] Vita di Alessandro
Vittoria scultore Trentino, ... (quoted), p. 33-34.
[86] Vita di Alessandro
Vittoria scultore Trentino, ... (quoted), p. 36.
[87] Vita di Alessandro
Vittoria scultore Trentino, ... (quoted), pp. 37-38.
[88] Vita di Alessandro
Vittoria scultore Trentino, ... (quoted), p. 13.
[89] Vita di Alessandro
Vittoria scultore Trentino, ... (quoted), p. 20.
[90] Vita di Alessandro
Vittoria scultore Trentino, ... (quoted), p. 21.
[91] Vita di Alessandro
Vittoria scultore Trentino, ... (quoted), p. 22.
[92] Vita di Alessandro
Vittoria scultore Trentino, ... (quoted), p. 78.
[93] Milizia, Francesco - Memorie
degli architetti antichi e moderni, Bassano, Published at the expenditure of
Rimondini in Venice, 1785.
[94] Vita di Alessandro
Vittoria scultore Trentino, ... (quoted), p. 69.
[95] Vita di Alessandro
Vittoria scultore Trentino, ... (quoted), p. 7.
[96] Vita di Alessandro
Vittoria scultore Trentino, ... (quoted), p. 13.
[97] Vita di Alessandro
Vittoria scultore Trentino, ... (quoted), p. 28.
[98] Vita di Alessandro
Vittoria scultore Trentino, ... (quoted), p. 17.
[99] Vita di Alessandro
Vittoria scultore Trentino, ... (quoted), p. 13.
[100] Vita di Alessandro
Vittoria scultore Trentino, ... (quoted), p. 17.
[101] Vita di Alessandro
Vittoria scultore Trentino, ... (quoted), p. 27.
[102] Vita di Alessandro
Vittoria scultore Trentino, ... (quoted), p. 12.
[103] Vita di Alessandro
Vittoria scultore Trentino, ... (quoted), p. 52.
[104] Vita di Alessandro
Vittoria scultore Trentino, ... (quoted), p. 38.
[105]
Mauro Nicolò, Storia delle famiglie della città di Treviso con loro discendenze
(Family history of the city of Treviso with their offspring), manuscript
[106] Burchelati Bartolomeo, Commentariorum
memorabilium multiplicis hystoriae Tarvisinae locuples promptuarium (Promptuary
of comments on illustrious things of the history of Treviso in more books), 4
books, Treviso, Angelo Righetino, 1616.
[107] Federici, Domenico Maria – Memorie Trevigiane: sulle
opere di disegno dal mille e cento al mille ottocento (Memories of Treviso: works
of drawers from eleven hundred to one thousand eight hundred), Venice,
Francesco Andreola, 1803
[108] Vita di Alessandro
Vittoria scultore Trentino, ... (quoted), p. 2.
[109] Vita di Alessandro
Vittoria scultore Trentino, ... (quoted), p. 3.
[110] Vita di Alessandro
Vittoria scultore Trentino, ... (quoted), p. 45.
[111] Vita di Alessandro
Vittoria scultore Trentino, ... (quoted), p. 45.
[112] Vita di Alessandro
Vittoria scultore Trentino, ... (quoted), p. 45.
[113] Vita di Alessandro
Vittoria scultore Trentino, ... (quoted), pp. 45-47.
[114] Vita di Alessandro
Vittoria scultore Trentino, ... (quoted), p. 47.
[115] Vita di Alessandro
Vittoria scultore Trentino, ... (quoted), p. 49.
[116] Vita di Alessandro
Vittoria scultore Trentino, ... (quoted), p. 49.
[117] Vita di Alessandro
Vittoria scultore Trentino, ... (quoted), p. 51.
[118] Vita di Alessandro
Vittoria scultore Trentino, ... (quoted), p. 50.
[119] Vita di Alessandro
Vittoria scultore Trentino, ... (quoted), pp. 53-55.
[120] Vita di Alessandro Vittoria
scultore Trentino, ... (quoted), p. 56.
[121] Vita di Alessandro
Vittoria scultore Trentino, ... (quoted), p. 59.
[122] La bellissima maniera:
Alessandro Vittoria e la scultura veneta del Cinquecento … (quoted), pp. 47-57
[123] Vita di Alessandro
Vittoria scultore Trentino, ... (quoted), p. 2.
[124] Vita di Alessandro
Vittoria scultore Trentino, ... (quoted), p. 11.
[125] According to Lia Camerlengo, at least part of
the attributions of these works to Vittoria were incorrect. See La bellissima maniera: Alessandro Vittoria e
la scultura veneta del Cinquecento, page 56 Note 20.
[126] Vita di Alessandro
Vittoria scultore Trentino, ... (quoted), p. 16.
[127] Vita di Alessandro
Vittoria scultore Trentino, ... (quoted), p. 41.
[128] Vita di Alessandro
Vittoria scultore Trentino, ... (quoted), p. 41.
[129] Vita di Alessandro
Vittoria scultore Trentino, ... (quoted), p. 79.
[130] Vita di Alessandro
Vittoria scultore Trentino, ... (quoted), p. 26.
[131] Vita di Alessandro
Vittoria scultore Trentino, ... (quoted), p. 16.
[132] Vita di Alessandro
Vittoria scultore Trentino, ... (quoted), p. 29.
[133] Vita di Alessandro
Vittoria scultore Trentino, ... (quoted), p. 91.
[134] Vita di Alessandro
Vittoria scultore Trentino, ... (quoted), p. 93-94.
Nessun commento:
Posta un commento