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Antonio Abondio (1538–1591) was an Italian sculptor, best known as a medallist and as the pioneer of the coloured wax relief
Thirteen of Abondio's wax portraits survive, usually made on a round black slate base, decorated with tiny pearls and precious stones. He made about sixty portrait medals, with a portrait on the obverse and an allegory on the reverse side, some of them have silver enamelled framing. He also made the dies for the first coinage of Emperor Rudolf II. Initially his style in metal followed that of Leone Leoni, for the facade of whose house in Milan (''Casa degli Omenoni'') he carved eight large atlantes in stone, but later included many other influences.
Two medals from the MetropolitanAbondio medal, NGA WashingtonEuropean sculpture and metalwork
a collection catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Abondio (see index) {{DEFAULTSORT:Abondio, Antonio 1538 births 1591 deaths People from Riva del Garda Italian medallists Italian goldsmiths 16th-century Italian sculptors Italian male sculptors 16th-century medallists
portrait miniature
A portrait miniature is a miniature portrait painting, usually executed in gouache, watercolor, or enamel. Portrait miniatures developed out of the techniques of the miniatures in illuminated manuscripts, and were popular among 16th-century eli ...
.
Born in Riva del Garda, he was trained by Leone Leoni and worked in Italy between 1552 and 1565. Thereafter he mainly worked for the Habsburg
The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...
s, with a few works made for French and Polish kings. He moved to Vienna to the court of Emperor Maximilian I and after his death in 1576 to Prague. He travelled to France, Netherlands and Germany. He died at Vienna in 1591.
His son Alessandro followed in his father's footsteps, also specializing in mythological and portrait reliefs, and marrying the widow of another court artist, Hans von Aachen
Hans von Aachen (1552 – 4 March 1615) was a German painter who was one of the leading representatives of Northern Mannerism.
Hans von Aachen was a versatile and productive artist who worked in many genres. He was successful as a painter of pr ...
.
Work
Thirteen of Abondio's wax portraits survive, usually made on a round black slate base, decorated with tiny pearls and precious stones. He made about sixty portrait medals, with a portrait on the obverse and an allegory on the reverse side, some of them have silver enamelled framing. He also made the dies for the first coinage of Emperor Rudolf II. Initially his style in metal followed that of Leone Leoni, for the facade of whose house in Milan (''Casa degli Omenoni'') he carved eight large atlantes in stone, but later included many other influences.
Sources
* George Francis Hill: Portrait Medals of Italian Artists of the Renaissance, London 1912, p. 72, 75 * Beket Bukovinská-Eliška Fučíková-Ivan P. Muchka: Die Kunst am Hofe Rudols II. Prag 1991, pp. 151, 155–156, 163.External links
Two medals from the Metropolitan
a collection catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Abondio (see index) {{DEFAULTSORT:Abondio, Antonio 1538 births 1591 deaths People from Riva del Garda Italian medallists Italian goldsmiths 16th-century Italian sculptors Italian male sculptors 16th-century medallists