Severo calzetta da ravenna, ragazzo con conchiglia

Severo calzetta da ravenna, lampada ad olio con piede rapace 01

Severo (Calzetta) da Ravenna or Severo di Domenico Calzetta (active ca 1496 – ca 1543) was an Italian sculptor of the

High Renaissance In art history, the High Renaissance was a short period of the most exceptional artistic production in the Italian states, particularly Rome, capital of the Papal States, and in Florence, during the Italian Renaissance. Most art historians stat ...

and

Mannerism Mannerism, which may also be known as Late Renaissance, is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Italy, ...

, who worked in

Padua Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the ...

, where he is likely to have finished his training, in

Ferrara Ferrara (, ; egl, Fràra ) is a city and ''comune'' in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, capital of the Province of Ferrara. it had 132,009 inhabitants. It is situated northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main stream ...

and in

Ravenna Ravenna ( , , also ; rgn, Ravèna) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire from 408 until its collapse in 476. It then served as the cap ...

, where he first appears in a document of 1496. Though Severo specialized in small bronzes, his only securely documented work is the marble ''St John the Baptist'', signed by him, which was commissioned in 1500 for the entrance to the chapel of St Anthony in the

Basilica of Saint Anthony of Padua The Pontifical Basilica of Saint Anthony of Padua ( it, Basilica Pontificia di Sant'Antonio di Padova) is a Catholic church and minor basilica in Padua, Veneto, Northern Italy, dedicated to St. Anthony of Padua. Although the basilica is visi ...

, and remains in place. Though he produced religious figures, such as the ''Corpus'' from a crucifix in the Cleveland Museum of Art, his main subjects were pagan, including dragons and satyrs, and functional objects, such as inkwells, candlesticks, and oil lamps. Pomponius Gauricus mentions Severo in his chapter on bronzes in ''De sculptura'' (1504), without identifying any subjects. A mark of his convincing style ''all'antica'' is the fact that a bronze bust of a bearded man wearing a toga in the collection of the

Rijksmuseum The Rijksmuseum () is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough of Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the St ...

was long considered to be a Roman bronze. And a mark of the difficulty of attributions is the fact that it is attributed to Severo or to

Tullio Lombardo Tullio Lombardo (c. 1455 – November 17, 1532), also known as Tullio Solari, was an Italian Renaissance sculptor. He was the brother of Antonio Lombardo and son of Pietro Lombardo. The Lombardo family worked together to sculpt famous Catholic ...

Illustration.
/ref>

Some works

*''Neptune on a Sea Monster'', c. 1500-10, bronze. Detroit Institute of Art

*''Saint Christopher Carrying the Christ Child with the Globe of the World'' (c. 1500/1509) The two figures had become separated, and their identities unrecognized, the ''Christopher'' mistaken for an Atlas (Louvre) and the Christ Child for a boy with a ball (National Gallery), until detective work by art historian

Bertrand Jestaz Bertrand Jestaz, 2 February 1939 in Fontainebleau, is a French art historian, specialized in French and Italian Renaissance and in French classical art. Biography A student of the École Nationale des Chartes and the École du Louvre, he dedicat ...

reunited the

*''Saint Sebastian'', c 1520, bronze (National Gallery of Art, Washington D
illustration.
One o
nine bronzes
in the National Gallery.

Notes

References

*Pope-Hennessy, John W. ''Renaissance Bronzes from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: Reliefs, Plaquettes, Statuettes, Utensils and Mortars.'' London, 1965: no. 527.

External links

Cleveland Museum of Art: seven bronzes attributed to SeveroEuropean sculpture and metalwork
a collection catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Severo Calzetta (see index) {{Authority control 16th-century Italian sculptors Italian male sculptors

Some works

Notes

References

Further reading

External links