English catalogue entry
Attributed to Nicolò Baroncelli and Domenico di Paris
Nicolò di Giovanni Baroncelli, called Nicolò del Cavallo
Active in Padua, 1434-Ferrara, 1453
Domenico di Paris
Active in Ferrara during the second half of the 15th century
Portrait of a Soldier
(Presumed Portrait of Ludovico III Gonzaga)
ca. 1450-1453?
Bronze
Height: 56 cm
Berlin, Staatliche Museen, Skulpturensammlung, Inv. SKS 52.
Bode-Museum, on view.
Provenance
Paris, Frédéric Spitzer (1876); Berlin, Skulpturensammlung/Altes Museum (1876-1896); Berlin, Skulpturensammlung/Neues Museum (1896-1904); Berlin, Skulpturensammlung/Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum (1904-1939); Berlin, storage (1939-1945); Merkers, storage (1945); Wiesbaden, Central Collecting Point (1945-1956); West Berlin, Skulpturensammlung/Museum Dahlem (1956-1997); Berlin, storage (1997-2006); Berlin, Skulpturensammlung/Bode-Museum (since 2006).
Acquisition
Bought for 3,000 Marks in 1876 in Paris from the Spitzer collection (inventory book in the Bode-Museum).
Other versions
• Paris, Musée Jacquemart-André, Inv. 1937. Bronze, height: 36 cm. Bought on 11 November 1888 from Stefano Bardini in Florence for 35,000 lire.
• Formerly Berlin, Königliche Museen, Skulpturensammlung, Inv. SKS 172. Bronze, height: 27.5 cm. Lost since May 1945.
• Formerly St Petersburg, Stroganoff collection. Bronze.
Exhibitions
Splendours of the Gonzaga, London, Victoria and Albert Museum, 4 November 1981-31 January 1982, cat. 28.
Giulio Romano, Mantua, Palazzo Te and Palazzo Ducale, 1 September-12 November 1989.
Bibliography
Wilhelm Bode, Italienische Portraitskulpturen des XV. Jahrhunderts in den Königlichen Museen zu Berlin, n. pl. Berlin, n. d. 1883, p. 8 (reproduced): Donatello; portrait of an unknown man; three other portraits in bronze are listed as by Donatello: this one, another in Berlin (see Inv. SKS 172), the equestrian monument of the Gattamelata in Padua and the so-called bust of the latter’s son in the Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence.
Hermann Grimm, “Italienische Porträtbüste des Quattrocento”, Preussische Jahrbücher, 51, 1883, p. 407: identifies the bust with Ludovico III Gonzaga through a comparison with medals by Pisanello and Pietro da Fano. (reference to be checked)
Wilhelm Bode, “Die italienischen Skulpturen der Renaissance in den Königlichen Museen zu Berlin. III”, Jahrbuch der Königlich preußischen Kunstsammlungen, V, 1884, pp. 29-30: style of Donatello, portrait of a commander.
August Schmarsow, Donatello. Eine Studie über den Entwicklungsgang des Künstlers und die Reihenfolge seiner Werke, Breslau, Vereins für Geschichte der bildenden Künste, 1886, p. 42: Donatello; portrait of the King of Naples Alfonso V of Aragon; made in 1448 before the stay in Padua which began earlier; the second bust in Berlin (Inv. SKS 172) is by Bertoldo di Giovanni.
Wilhelm Bode, Italienische Bildhauer der Renaissance. Studien zur Geschichte der italienischen Plastik und Malerei auf Grund der Bildwerke und Gemälde in den Königl. Museen zu Berlin, Berlin, W. Speemann, 1887, pp. 14, 31-32, 222-223, 252, 260.
Esposizione Donatelliana nel R. Museo Nazionale in Firenze, exh. cat. (Florence, Museo nazionale del Bargello, 1887), Florence, Tipografia dei Fratelli Bencini, 1887, p. 8 n° 51: Donatello, portrait of a warrior, plaster cast in the exhibition made after the bronze in the Berlin Museums.
Hans Semper, Donatellos Leben und Werke, Innsbruck, Wagnerischen Universitäts-Buchhandlung, 1887, p. 82: both portraits in Berlin (Inv. SKS 52; Inv. SKS 172) are unfinished portraits for the equestrian monument ordered by Alfonso of Aragon in Naples, and left uncompleted because of technical problems.
Hugo von Tschudi, Donatello e la critica moderna, Turin et al., Fratelli Bocca, 1887 (1st ed.: Rivista storica Italiana, IV, n° 2, 1887), pp. 24-25: Donatello, but not a portrait of Alfonso V of Aragon; close to the
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