Prospero Spani (16 February 1516 – 25 May 1584) was an Italian sculptor of the
Renaissance, active mainly in the
Province of Reggio Emilia. He is variously known as Prospero Clementi or Prospero Clemente or il Clemente.
Vasari claimed he was Modenese.
Biography
Spani was born and died in
Reggio Emilia
Reggio nell'Emilia ( egl, Rèz; la, Regium Lepidi), usually referred to as Reggio Emilia, or simply Reggio by its inhabitants, and known until 1861 as Reggio di Lombardia, is a city in northern Italy, in the Emilia-Romagna region. It has abou ...
. He initially trained with his grandfather,
Bartolommeo Clementi, and then apprenticed with
Antonio Begarelli
Antonio Begarelli, also known as Begarino (1499–1565) was an Italian sculptor.
He was born at Modena, and is said to have been instructed by Giovanni dell'Abbate, the father of the painter Niccolò. Begarelli worked chiefly in Modena, where m ...
. He soon modeled much of his work after the
mannerist style of
Michelangelo
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (; 6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), known as Michelangelo (), was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was insp ...
.
The ''Funeral Monument for the blessed
Bernardo degli Uberti
Bernardo degli Uberti (c. 1060 – 4 December 1133) was an Italian people, Italian Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholic prelate who was a professed member and served as an abbot of the Vallumbrosan, Vallumbrosan Order. Uberti served as the Bishop ...
'' (1544) in the
Cathedral of Parma is his first work. He also completed some works for the Prati family in Parma. In the church of
San Andrea in Mantua, he sculpted a monument for the Bishop Andreossi (Andreasi) (1549), with a sphinx and bronze swan, flanked by sculptures of ''Faith'' and ''Charity'' . He also worked for the Cathedral of
Carpi
Carpi may refer to:
Places
* Carpi, Emilia-Romagna, a large town in the province of Modena, central Italy
* Carpi (Africa), a city and former diocese of Roman Africa, now a Latin Catholic titular bishopric
People
* Carpi (people), an ancie ...
and the church of
San Domenico San Domenico may refer to:
Catholic saints
* Dominic de Guzmán (1170-1221), Spanish priest and founder of the Dominican Order
* San Domenico di Sora (951-1031), Italian abbot, patron saint of Villalago
Churches
* San Domenico, Arezzo (Basilica ...
in
Bologna.
He was prolific in his native Reggio Emilia, where he left in a bronze tabernacle; and a monument of Bishop Rangone (Rangoni) in 1567, for which, after five years, he was handsomely paid 1250 gold scudi. He complete a monument for Bishop Filippo Zoboli (1554) in
San Nicolò of Reggio Emilia, which is flanked by grieving maidens.
Algarotti
Count Francesco Algarotti (11 December 1712 – 3 May 1764) was an Italian polymath, philosopher, poet, essayist, anglophile, art critic and art collector. He was a man of broad knowledge, an expert in Newtonianism, architecture and opera. He wa ...
extolled him as the "''
Correggio of sculpture''". William Waters, less kindly, called his works "''some of the worst sculpture of the time..monstrous..and absurdity''". For the
Cathedral of Reggio Emilia, he completed a ''Christ with the Cross'' and statues of ''St Grisanto and St Daria'' outside west door, while over the main portal, he had statues of a recumbent ''Adam and Eve'' (1552–1557). He also completed statues of ''Lepidus and Hercules'' at Modena, the statue of ''St Procolo'' for the Volta tomb at
Bologna, and a recumbent Figure of
Alberto Pio del Carpi in the Louvre.
[Waters, Page 212-213]
Notes and sources
*
* Lives of the most eminent painters, sculptors, and architects, Volume 4 (1883) By Giorgio Vasari, translated by Jonathan Foster. Publishers George Bell and Sons, London. Page 51
* Italian Sculptors. William George Waters. (1926) Methuem, Publisher. pages 212–213.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spani, Prospero
16th-century Italian sculptors
Italian male sculptors
Renaissance sculptors
1516 births
1584 deaths