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A small draped, seated female figure, the model for the full-size figure of 'Architecture' on Michelangelo's tomb in the Church of Santa Croce, Florence
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Giovanni Bandini (1527 - 1594), sculptor
A small draped, seated female figure, the model for the full-size figure of 'Architecture' on Michelangelo's tomb in the Church of Santa Croce, Florence
c.1564
Terracotta
Height: 40cm
Width: 20cm
Depth: 20cm
Width: 20cm
Depth: 20cm
Museum number: A58
On display: Lobby to the Breakfast Room
All spaces are in No. 13 Lincoln's Inn Fields unless identified as in No. 12, Soane's first house.
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Curatorial note
Statuette of a draped female figure seated on the plinth, a small part of which emerges near the draperies. The right arm is bent over the left leg but is broken off near the wrist. The left arm is broken above the elbow. The head is bent to look downwards, half left.
Michelangelo's tomb was planned by Vincenzo Borghini and designed by Giorgio Vasari in 1564, shortly after the celebrated sculptor's death. It was to feature three allegorical figures representing Sculpture, Architecture and Painting, each assigned to a different maker.
The identification of this sketch-model (or bozzetto) as for the figure of 'architecture' from the right-hand side of the tomb was not known to Sir John Soane and in the earliest Museum inventories (1837) it was described simply as 'Small model of a sitting female figure (with hands broken off). Terracotta'.
A sketch model by Battista Lorenzi for the compantion figure on the left-hand side of the tomb, originally of 'Sculpture' but then changed to represent 'Painting', is in the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A inv. no. 4121-1854).
Michelangelo's tomb was planned by Vincenzo Borghini and designed by Giorgio Vasari in 1564, shortly after the celebrated sculptor's death. It was to feature three allegorical figures representing Sculpture, Architecture and Painting, each assigned to a different maker.
The identification of this sketch-model (or bozzetto) as for the figure of 'architecture' from the right-hand side of the tomb was not known to Sir John Soane and in the earliest Museum inventories (1837) it was described simply as 'Small model of a sitting female figure (with hands broken off). Terracotta'.
A sketch model by Battista Lorenzi for the compantion figure on the left-hand side of the tomb, originally of 'Sculpture' but then changed to represent 'Painting', is in the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A inv. no. 4121-1854).
Exhibition history
The Legacy of Michelangelo: The Medici and Late Renaissance Art in Florence (1537-1631), Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, 12 June - 29 September 2002
Soane collections online is being continually updated. If you wish to find out more or if you have any further information about this object please contact us: worksofart@soane.org.uk