The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 19, 2024

Model for a Fallen Warrior

Model for a Fallen Warrior

c. 1520
(Italian, 1474–1554)
Italy, 16th century
wax on a metal armature, mounted on wood
Overall: 22.2 x 14.2 cm (8 3/4 x 5 9/16 in.)
John L. Severance Fund 1963.576
Location: 117A Italian Renaissance

Did You Know?

Sixteenth-century sculptors often sketched their ideas in three dimensions using wax, clay, or stucco.

Description

Giorgio Vasari (1511–1574), an influential writer and painter, notes in his biography of his contemporary Rustici, that the artist sculpted terracotta battle scenes of groups of horses "with men on their backs or under them." This wax model may be a study for such a group, showing a contorted, helmeted warrior bracing himself after falling to the ground. The figures for these projects were most likely inspired by those in Leonardo's monumental wall painting depicting the Battle of Anghiari for the Hall of the Five Hundred in the Palazzo Vecchio, Florence. Although the fresco was never completed, its pictorial scheme was well known. Rustici later collaborated with Leonardo, and was undoubtedly aware of the major commission and its dynamic portrayal of war.
  • J. P. Heseltine, 1843-1929 (England)
    E. L. Paget (London, England)
    Herbert N. Bier (London, England), sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1963.
  • Mozzati, Tommaso. Giovanfrancesco Rustici: le Compagnie del paiuolo e della cazzuola ; arte, letteratura, festa nell'età della maniera. [Florence, Italy]: L.S. Olschki, 2008. 22-62, figs. 48-49
    Sénéchal, Philippe, and Marco Collareta. Giovan Francesco Rustici, 1475-1554: un sculpteur de la Renaissance entre Florence et Paris. Paris: Arthena, 2007. 84-93, fig. 101
    Wixom, William D. A Wax Bozzetto Close to Leonardo Da Vinci. The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, April, 1971. 115-122
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 99 archive.org
    Miller, Michael. "A Michelangelo Drawing." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 77, no. 5 (1990): 146-74. Mentioned: p. 172, p. 155 www.jstor.org
    Pedretti, Carlo, et. al. Leonardo Da Vinci and the Battle of Anghiari: Its Origin Through the Timabal Panel. Poggio a Caiano (Prato) : CB Edizioni, 2018. Reproduced: p. 234; Mentioned: p. 244, note 72
    Marani, Pietro C. "A Problem of Style: Old and New Considerations on the Budapest Horse and Rider Associated with Leonardo da Vinci." In Leonardo Da Vinci & The Budapest Horse and Rider, Zoltán Kárpáti, ed., 30-47. Budapest: Museum of Fine Arts, 2018. Reproduced: p. 42, fig. 18
  • Michelangelo: Mind of the Master. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 22, 2019-January 5, 2020).
    Year in Review (1964). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 8, 1964-January 31, 1965).
    Milan, Leonardo da Vinci, 1939, p. 141
    London, Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1938-39, no. 33
    London, Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1912, no. 60
  • {{cite web|title=Model for a Fallen Warrior|url=false|author=Giovanni Francesco Rustici|year=c. 1520|access-date=19 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1963.576