|
This
wooden group, the earliest free-standing
equestrian sculpture in Venice, is placed
high on the wall of the south transept of
the Frari -a church at present undergoing
a 20-year programme of repair. The commemoration
of mercenary military commanders (condottieri)
with equestrian statues on the model of
that of Marcus Aurelius in Rome, became
popular in Northern Italy towards the end
of the Middle Ages; obvious examples are
those of Can Grande della Scala in Verona
and Donatello's superb Gattamelata in Padua,
to say nothing of Verrocchio's Colleoni
monument outside Santi Giovanni e Paolo
in Venice.
Paolo Savelli was a Roman noble in the service
of the Venetian Republic who died of the
plague while besieging Padua in 1405. He
had recently contributed to the building
fund of the Frari, which was still unfinished
at the time of his death. He is an early
example of the type of mercenary leader
on whom Venice, essentially a sea-power,
habitually relied when obliged to fight
on land in pursuit of her policy of establishing
an empire on terra firma. The new figurative
style combines the naturalism seen in Savelli's
face and in the anatomical detail of the
horse with the "classicised Gothic"
of this last phase of pre-Renaissance sculpture.
In 1992 Venice in Peril used a generous
donation from the Headley Trust to strengthen
the woodwork and to remove successive overpaintings
down to the second, contemporary layer on
the celebrative red of Savelli's mantle
and the dappled grey of his mount.
The conservation work provided a rare opportunity
to see the work from far closer quarters
than is normally possible; it was on public
display in 1994 in the chapter-house of
the church. The sarcophagus beneath the
statue had been restored by the Superintendency
for the Artistic and Historical Heritage
some years before.
DIRECTION OF WORKS: Superintendency for
the Artistic and Historical Heritage
CONSERVATORS: Maximilian Leuthenmayr |
)