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Nanni di Banco

Giovanni di Antonio di Banco, called Nanni di Banco (c. 1374 – 1421), was an Italian Renaissance sculptor from Florence. He was a contemporary of Donatello – both are first recorded as sculptors in the accounts of the Florence Duomo in 1406, presumably as young masters.[1]

Nanni di Banco
Bornc. 1374
Died1421
NationalityItalian
Known forSculptor
MovementItalian Renaissance

Early life

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Nanni di Banco, born probably about 1374 in Florence, was the son of Antonio di Banco and Giovanna Succhielli.[2] Antonio di Banco married Giovanna Succhielli in 1368 and joined the stonemasons' guild in 1372. He was employed for many years in the building works (Fabbrica di Santa Maria del Fiore) of Florence Cathedral[3] as a "quarryman, stonemason, master builder, and designer". He ran the family workshop in the Sant'Ambrogio parish while Giovanna owned a farm in the parish of Santa Maria a Settignano. She also came from a long line of stonemasons who had important offices in the Fabbrica di S. Maria del Fiore.[2]

Nanni received the training typical of a Florentine artisan, being descended from stonemasons who were active in the Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore. His grandfather Banco di Falco and his great-uncle Agostino di Falco are listed as masters in Opera del Duomo documents concerning construction of the cathedral and the bell tower. Nannni's father, Antonio, procured materials for the cathedral and worked on its decorative carvings. According to Mary Bergstein, Nanni di Banco probably began working as a stonemason in the last decade of the 14th century in the family workshop and then in the Opera di S. Maria del Fiore under the master builders Lorenzo di Filippo and Giovanni d'Ambrogio, respectively. He joined the stonemasons' and woodworkers' guild (arte dei maestri di pietra e legname) in 1405, and is first noticed in the cathedral documents (1406–1408) during the second phase of the decoration of the Porta della Mandorla (Almond Gate). He sculpted the archivolt of the door in which a Christ in Pity (Cristo in pietà) or Man of Sorrows[4] is carved on the keystone at the top of the frieze and framed by a pentagon (1407–1409).[2]

Nanni worked with Donatello, though Donatello was not, as Giorgio Vasari thought, Nanni's instructor. Most of his training likely took place within the circle of Florentine masons, stonecutters, and sculptors at work on the Cathedral, and in particular in the context of the work known to have started in 1391 on the decoration of the north door, later called the Porta della Mandorla. Giovanni d'Ambrogio, whose work, according to Kreytenberg, "provided a decisive impetus for the emergence of Renaissance sculpture", has been described by Manfred Wundram as the "true mentor of Donatello, and even more so of Nanni di Banco".[5]

Career

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Main relief of the Assumption, Porta di Mandorla, Florence Cathedral, Nanni di Banco

Nanni di Banco's father Antonio attained the position of chief foreman (capomaestro) of the cathedral building works, and served as consul of the Arte dei Maestri di Pietra e Legname (Stonemasons' and Woodworkers' Guild) seven times. Nanni followed his father into the guild in 1405,[6] membership of which gave him status as a qualified sculptor and allowed him to work as such at the cathedral. He served as a guild consul five times. In 1419 he was elected one of three representatives to the Dodici Bonomini, the committee of "Twelve Good Men", who were advisors to the Signoria.[3] Nanni was selected to carve a sculpture of the evangelist Luke which took him five years to complete. Nanni and his father were commissioned to carve the statue of the prophet Isaiah for the cathedral.[2] He is one of the artists whose work manifested the transition from Gothic to Renaissance art in Florence.

Nanni di Banco was a contemporary of Donatello and Lorenzo Ghiberti.[6] He is well known for his sculpture group Four Crowned Saints (Quattro Santi Coronati, c. 1416)[7] which was commissioned by the stone carvers and wood workers guild for the Church of Orsanmichele.[8] Demonstrating his familiarity with antique prototypes of formal sculpture, Nanni depicted the four saints, sculptors who were martyred in the 4th century, as if they were Roman philosophers or senators.[3] The significance of this work is manifested not only in the striking naturalism and individuality of the figures, but also in the complexity of construction of a sculpture group, for which he copied the swagged cloth seen behind the figures of a Roman sarcophagus from the 3rd century.[9] According to Mary Bergstein, Nanni di Banco's body of sculptural work "in many ways determined the course of Renaissance art in Florence".[10]

Works

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Quattro Santi Coronati, around 1408-15. Orsanmichele, Florence

Nanni di Banco made a name for himself in the transition from International Gothic art to Renaissance art, marking a path for the Early Renaissance in Florence. Many of his works are displayed inside the Cathedral and in the Church and Museum of Orsanmichele in Florence. His first major work was a statue of the prophet Isaiah, as identified by Jenö Lányi, in 1408 for a buttress of the Cathedral.[11]

As Antonio was a member of the commission formed on 2 June 1407 to oversee the decoration of the cathedral's north tribune, Nanni consequently was active for the Opera del duomo at the time, working alongside his father and executing the Cristo in pietà and the Isaia (Isaiah).[2]

The Quattro Coronati was created c. 1409 to 1416–17. Nanni's rendering of the four saints, patron saints of the stone carvers and wood workers guild, mostly ignores the confused legend on which it is based, that of the martyrs of Pannonia, who, during the reign of Diocletian chose to die rather than follow his command to carve an image of the god Asclepius. The sculpture depicts the four men, wearing sandals and togas in the ancient Roman style, engaged in serious, agreeable conversation. The relief carved on the plinth on which the figures stand depicts stonemasons, stonecutters, and bricklayers at work, also wearing clothes of the period. This relief was modeled on a Roman funerary stele depicting such craftsmen.[2]

Nanni carved St. Luke (San Luca), a marble statue of the Christian evangelist, as part of a series with Donatello's St. John, Bernardo Ciuffagni's St. Matthew and Niccolò di Pietro Lamberti's St. Mark, in which di Banco exploits a new approach to expressing human feeling with themes of humanism, the influence of this philosophical movement being expressed in the outline and in the human face through shadowing and posture. The project to create the set of the four evangelists for the facade of the cathedral is documented from purchase of the marble (1405–1407) until the relocation of the statues in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo after World War II.[2] One of the earliest examples of the development of contrapposto in the Quattrocento is Nanni's Saint Philip, a standing, draped figure, located on the north side of Orsanmichele.[12]

Although Nanni and Donatello were regarded by some of their contemporaries as bitter rivals during the first two decades of the Quattrocento, Bergstein says there is documentary evidence in the cathedral records that indicate friendship and a harmonious working relationship between Nanni, Donatello, and Filippo Brunelleschi. Nanni acted, for example, as Donatello's guarantor to the Opera del Duomo for payments made in advance for work on the Prophets series in the campanile. The trio were paid 45 gold florins in 1419 for preparing a large model of Brunelleschi's dome constructed of brick. Nanni and Donatello served on an Opera del Duomo committee four months later to evaluate Brunelleschi's design for the dome.[2]

Vasari includes a biography of Nanni di Banco in his Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects.[13]

Authenticated works

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Mary Bergstein has compiled a list of works by Nanni di Banco she deems to be authentic:[14]

  • Hercules and Blessing Angel, ca. 1395, Marble, Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence[15]
  • Man of Sorrows, 1407–1409, Marble, Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Florence,[16]
  • Console Atlanti, Niccolò Lamberti and Nanni di Banco, ca. 1407–1408, Pietra forte (sandstone)[17] Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence[18]
  • Isaiah, 1408, Marble, Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence[19]
  • Saint Luke Evangelist, 1412/1413, Carrara marble, Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Florence[20]
  • Quatro Santi Coronati, 1409–1416/1417, Marble Orsanmichele, Florence[21]
  • Saint Philip, ca.1410–1412, Apuan marble, Orsanmichele, Florence[22]
  • Arms of the Brunelleschi Family, ca. 1400–1410, Pietra serena (sandstone)[17] Lapidarium of San Marco,[23]
  • Prophet with Scroll, ca. 1410, Marble, Orsanmichele, Florence,[24]
  • Saint Elegius, ca. 1417–1421, installed ca. 1422, Apuan marble, Orsanmichele, Florence [25]
  • Agnus Dei: Stemma of the Wool Guild, 1419, Macigno (sandstone), Santa Maria Novella, Florence, [26]
  • Assumption of the Virgin, 1414–1422, Marble, Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence, [27]
  • Four Agnus Dei reliefs, 1419, lost panels from two farmhouses at San Pietro a Monticelli (Florence)[28]

References

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  1. ^ Seymour, 30
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Bergstein, Mary (2001). "Giovanni di Antonio di Banco, detto Nanni di Banco - Enciclopedia". Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (in Italian). 55.
  3. ^ a b c Rubin, Patricia Lee (2007). Images and Identity in Fifteenth-century Florence. Yale University Press. p. 63. ISBN 978-0-300-12342-5.
  4. ^ Adani, Giuseppe (6 June 2020). "Nanni di Antonio di Banco Falco, Sculptor Prince of the Renaissance". www.finestresullarte.info. Retrieved 25 November 2024.
  5. ^ Kreytenberg, G. (2012). Hourihane, Colum (ed.). The Grove Encyclopedia of Medieval Art and Architecture. Oxford University Press. p. 3. ISBN 978-0-19-539536-5.
  6. ^ a b Hartt, Frederick (2011). History Of Italian Renaissance Art Painting, Sculpture, Architecture. p. 193.
  7. ^ Kaborycha, Lisa (2024). Voices from the Italian Renaissance: A Sourcebook. Taylor & Francis. p. 160. ISBN 978-1-003-81669-0.
  8. ^ Turner, Almon Richard (1997). Renaissance Florence: The Invention of a New Art. H.N. Abrams. p. 58. ISBN 978-0-8109-2736-0.
  9. ^ Welch, Evelyn S. (2000). Art in Renaissance Italy, 1350-1500. Oxford University Press. p. 31. ISBN 978-0-19-284279-4.
  10. ^ Bergstein, Mary (2000). The Sculpture of Nanni Di Banco. Princeton University Press. p. 1. ISBN 978-0-691-00982-7.
  11. ^ Bergstein, Mary (2000). The Sculpture of Nanni Di Banco. Princeton University Press. p. 4. ISBN 978-0-691-00982-7.
  12. ^ Bergstein, Mary (1992). "Contrapposto as Form and Meaning in Nanni Di Banco's "Saint Philip"". Source: Notes in the History of Art. 11 (2): 10. ISSN 0737-4453.
  13. ^ Vasari, Giorgio (1568). Le vite de' piv eccellenti pittori, scvltori, et architettori. In Fiorenza: Appresso i Givnti.
  14. ^ Bergstein, Mary Ellen (2000). The Sculpture of Nanni Di Banco. Princeton University. pp. 81–163.
  15. ^ Bergstein 2000a pp. 82–87
  16. ^ Bergstein 2000a pp. 88–93
  17. ^ a b Fratini, F.; Pecchioni, E.; Cantisani, E.; Rescic, S.; Vettori, S. (January 2015). "Pietra Serena: the stone of the Renaissance". Geological Society, London, Special Publications. 407 (1): 173. doi:10.1144/SP407.11.
  18. ^ Bergstein 2000a pp.94–97
  19. ^ Bergstein 2000a pp. 98–105
  20. ^ Bergstein 2000a pp. 107–113
  21. ^ Bergstein 2000a pp. 114–123
  22. ^ Bergstein 2000a pp.124–131
  23. ^ Bergstein 2000a pp. 132–133
  24. ^ Bergstein 2000a pp.134–135
  25. ^ Bergstein 2000a pp. 136–147
  26. ^ Bergstein 2000a pp. 148–151
  27. ^ Bergstein 2000a pp. 152–163
  28. ^ Bergstein 2000a p.164
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