Thursday, March 3, 2011

Andrea Riccio

Satyr, c. 1506-08.  Bronze.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC
Drinking Satyr, c. 1515-20.  Bronze.
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Wien
Satyr and Satyress, c. 1510-20.  Bronze.
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
One of my current inspirations, Andrea Riccio.  A most gifted and versatile sculptor.  Due to my proclivities, I'm particularly fond of his small-scale figurative works.  I'm also fond of the satyr motif in art, which is delightfully captured in several works by Riccio. 

For me, Riccio's works are remarkable for a certain lack of formal quality, their naturalism, their everydayness as it were.  They're magically mundane, how a particular expression or posture communicates the subject's singularity.  Riccio's figures have an intimate vitality, which is corroborated by their size, as if the viewer is swooping down to catch a slice of life. 

The Sheperd Daphnis with Pipes, c. 1520-30.  Bronze.
The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore
The Shouting Horesman, c. 1510-15.  Bronze.
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
http://collections.vam.ac.uk/name/riccio-andrea/5873/
Many of Riccio's works are at Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

http://www.basilicadelsanto.org/ing/visita/storia.asp#arca
Another link, to the Paschal candelabra at Basilica of St. Anthony, Padua.

The Frick had the first exhibition dedicated to Riccio, but this was over two years ago.  However, there's some good info at its website.  Riccio's 'Oil Lamp' is on view at the Frick. 

An exhibition catalogue is available, the first monograph on Riccio: Denise Allen, Peta Motture, et al./Andrea Riccio: Renaissance Master of Bronze (Philip Wilson Publishers, 2008).