Charity is very beautiful; she is accompanied by three little children, one of whom she holds and the other two of whom are at her feet to either side. In these four figures one sees the fine understanding of this distinguished artist, for those parts which would be illuminated by natural light if they were actually in relief are touched with strong highlights, and other parts with darks, in such a masterfully assured manner that they project wonderfully from the wall and seem to be in relief when seen from a certain distance. And even though they do not directly imitate living figures, but rather marble ones which imitate living ones, who will
say â so forcefully are they presented â that they are not both real and of marble?2
Andrea del Sarto, Charity, c.1513, fresco, Florence, Chiostro dello Scalzo (detail)
IMAGE: KUNSTHISTORISCHES INSTITUT IN FLORENZ, MAX-PLANCK-INSTITUT / PHOTO: RABATTI â DOMINIGIE PHOTOGRAPHY
Through the formal principle of painterly rilievo, based essentially on the elaborate application of light and shadow, del Sarto endows his Charity group with three-dimensionality and heightened bodily presence.3 The sculptural impression of the figures is invoked as well by also the animated style of depiction and the framing: Charity and her children have been placed in a simulated stone niche within which their bodies cast shadows. Charity stands upright, her right leg supported by a pedestal. On her left arm, she holds a small boy, who uses his legs to balance himself on her right upper thigh while looking to his left, at the same time using his left arm to point animatedly in the other direction, toward her breast. Two further small children are found at Charityʼs feet. The little boy standing on the pedestal holds his arm above his head, gazing up at his mother, while the boy on the right alongside Charity takes a step forward and peers under her outer garment. Both boys have been captured in a state of movement, and seem to come toward the beholder. The impression that the figures move closer to the viewer is heightened by the transgression of an aesthetic boundary: the right arm of the child on the left and the robe of Charity, held up by the second boy, overlap the frame of the niche. As suggested by Francesco Bocchiâs description, the figures seem extraordinarily lifelike, yet at the same time evoke the impression of marble sculpture. Contributing to this effect alongside their decidedly sculptural impact is the framing, for the rectangular recess they occupy is reminiscent of a niche for a statue.
That the painter Andrea del Sarto grappled in his fresco of Charity with the sculptural medium becomes even more tangible when we consider that in conceptualizing his figures, he drew inspiration from specific three-dimensional works: evidently, he was oriented here toward three-dimensional models fashioned by the sculptor Jacopo Sansovino (1486â1570). First, there is an early wax model by Sansovino, preserved in Budapest, which depicts the Virgin with the Christ Child (figure 8.2), and which has long been discussed by researchers as
Jacopo Sansovino, Madonna (Virgin and Child), c.1510â1511, 65.5 à 23.5 à 19 cm, wax, gilded canvas, Budapest, Szépmüvészeti Múzeum, Inv. Nr. 1177
IMAGE: SZÃPMÅ°VÃSZETI MÃZEUM/MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, BUDAPEST, 2023
Jacopo Sansovino, Charity, c.1513, terracotta, 59 cm, Art Market (Moretti Fine Art), in: Cat. New York, Williams Moretti Irving Gallery, Body and Soul: Masterpieces of Italian Renaissance and Baroque Sculpture (A. Butterfield, ed.), Florence 2010, p. 27
Jacopo Sansovino, Charity, c.1513, terracotta, 59 cm, Art Market (Moretti Fine Art), in: Cat. New York, Williams Moretti Irving Gallery, Body and Soul: Masterpieces of Italian Renaissance and Baroque Sculpture (A. Butterfield, ed.), Florence 2010, p. 25
Del Sartoâs recourse to bozzetti by this sculptor in particular is no accident, since beginning around 1511, the two young artists â who were indeed contemporaries â maintained studios in the same building in the vicinity of Santissima Annunziata in Florence, and were (according to Giorgio Vasari) close friends during that period.6 In his Vite, Vasari describes their reciprocal helpfulness, how they discussed shared artistic challenges, and how the
The synagonistic perspective adopted here does not focus however exclusively on intermedial references, but also examines forms of artistic cooperation and intermedial exchanges between the painter del Sarto and the sculptor Sansovino in the context of workshop practices, thereby also providing a supplemental approach to concepts of intermediality. But in another respect as well, the concept of synagonism is well-suited to an analysis of the frescoes of the Chiostro dello Scalzo. Our notions of the relationship between the pictorial arts in early modern Italy, in particular between painting and sculpture, have been strongly shaped by the so-called paragone debate. Researchers have discussed the paragone issue primarily in relation to rivalry and attempts to surpass competing art forms, hence emphasizing the competitive relationship between media that prevailed during the Quattrocento and Cinquecento.15 In contrast, the editors of the collection Paragone als Mitstreit adopted a new approach to the early modern paragone debate, conceiving it less as competition for status between the arts and instead as a more productive form of contention.16 Explored here in this spirit is the thesis that references to other artistic media and the associated paragonal structures in Andrea del Sartoâs fresco cycle are motivated less by an attempt to demonstrate the superiority of painting as a medium against the background of art-theoretical arguments concerning the paragone; of primary importance instead, I argue, is the productive evocation of a parallel medium, deployed as an artistic mean for heightening the workâs impact.17 As an operative concept, synagonism proves useful in this
Andrea del Sarto created his fresco cycle for the little cloister of the Compagnia dei Disciplinati di San Giovanni Battista, a flagellant confraternity devoted to John the Baptist, whose members referred to themselves as discalced (scalzo). The Chiostro is located at the center of Florence in the immediate vicinity of the Convent of S. Marco, although some original elements of the larger complex â among them the chapel of the confraternity and adjacent rooms â are no longer extant, while the cloister itself was redesigned in the 18th century.19 Del Sartoâs frescoes were executed in multiple stages during an extended period between circa 1511 and 1526, so that the compositions date from different periods of his career, and are correspondingly varied stylistically.20 During the Cinquecento, these frescoes â which are no longer preserved in a complete state, particularly in the lower portions â enjoyed great fame and were, as reported by both Giorgio Vasari and Francesco Bocchi, frequently studied by young artists.21
The fresco cycle of the rectangular inner courtyard encompasses twelve history paintings depicting the events from the life of St. John the Baptist, along with personifications of the virtues Faith and Hope framing the entrance door, as well as Justice and Charity framing the door â now walled up â opposite the
Andrea del Sarto, frescos in the Chiostro dello Scalzo, Florence, c.1511â1526
IMAGE: KUNSTHISTORISCHES INSTITUT IN FLORENZ, MAX-PLANCK-INSTITUT / PHOTO: RABATTI â DOMINIGIE PHOTOGRAPHY
Andrea del Sarto, frescos in the Chiostro dello Scalzo, Florence, c.1511â1526
IMAGE: KUNSTHISTORISCHES INSTITUT IN FLORENZ, MAX-PLANCK-INSTITUT / PHOTO: RABATTI â DOMINIGIE PHOTOGRAPHY
1 Intermedial References I: Color-Reduced Wall Painting and Sculpture
Andrea del Sartoâs fresco cycle manifests references to the sculptural medium on many levels. The Charity â like the other three virtues Faith, Hope, and Justice that are depicted on the narrow walls of the Chiostro dello Scalzo â are interpretable as referring to the medium of sculpture in general, with their evocation of virtually monochrome, fully three-dimensional statues in rectangular niches.24 With his simulated stone sculptures in the medium of monochrome painting, del Sarto takes up a widely disseminated variant of grisaille painting, founded, it is widely recognized, by Giotto in Italy around 1300,25 and developed further north of the Alps during the 15th century by artists such as
This productive confrontation with the sculptural medium is also evident in the circumstance that in his working process for the fresco of Charity, as mentioned above, del Sarto had recourse to a sculptural prototype, namely to bozzetti produced by his sculptor friend Jacopo Sansovino. In the case of the gilded wax model known as the Budapest Madonna (figure 8.2), the similarities pertain to the standing motif, the design of the garments, and the direction of the gaze of the Madonna or Charity respectively, as well as the movement motif of the child she holds in her arms, although Sansovino has the Christ Child held by his mother on the opposite side. Compositionally, there are still more striking parallels between the Charity fresco and Sansovinoâs terracotta model of Charity, although even here, and despite close correspondences between the two, there is no question of del Sarto copying Sansovinoâs model exactly, since subtle differences between the two are readily detectable. As C.D. Dickerson has already observed, the fresco does not reproduce a particular view of Sansovinoâs sculptural Charity group, and instead combines at least two different views: while Charity, the child on her arm, and the boy on the right for the most part present frontal views of the terracotta model (figure 8.3), the child standing on the pedestal on the left, together with Charityâs propped leg, instead offer a lateral, diagonal view of the sculpture (figure 8.4).27 In Sansovinoâs bozzetto, the figures are arranged on a round plinth, and the flanking boys, both set on the pedestal as well, are positioned further apart laterally, enlivening the side views and the groupâs expansive, fully sculptural impact. By virtue of the multiple views they proffer â a feature that is central to our perception of three-dimensional works of art â and of their physical presence in space, fully-rounded statues and sculptures elicit an active, corporeal form of perception to a far greater degree than paintings or reliefs.28 This is true as well for a
To date, we cannot say whether Jacopo Sansovino prepared his terracotta model of Charity at del Sartoâs request, or instead produced it for his own use, with del Sarto reusing it later on for his own purposes. Given Vasariâs report, according to which Jacopo prepared figural models for Andrea, it appears quite conceivable that the terracotta model of Charity was indeed prepared especially for his painter friend. Assuming this was the case, it seems significant that the sculptural composition he prepared for the painter was not governed by a primary or central viewpoint, and instead offers multiple views in a way that highlights the media-specific properties of sculpture. This strengthens the argument that del Sartoâs intended to engage in a systematic confrontation with the three dimensional qualities of his sculptural prototype.
We know from Vasari that Sansovino prepared sculptural models for other painters as well: during his stay in Rome, Sansovino fashioned numerous wax models for Pietro Perugino, among them the multifigure Deposition (c.1510, London, Victoria and Albert-Museum), after the painter had seen the Ê»bella maniera del Sansovinoʼ.30 Researchers have assumed a similar functional connection for Sansovinoâs gilded wax model of the Madonna in Budapest. Since this figure does not correspond to any completed sculpture by Sansovino, and since its technical structure resembles that of the model for the London Deposition fashioned for Perugino, Johannes Myssok has concluded that the
Recourse to a three-dimensional model allowed painters to try out complex compositions, along with the appearance of three-dimensional figures in space with attention to lighting conditions, as well as the study of drapery. Of particular interest in this connection is the technique used by Sansovino for his wax models. For the gilded wax model known as the Budapest Madonna and for the Deposition, the parts of the figures were modeled in wax, while the garments consist of thin, canvas-like fabric dipped in plaster (figure 8.7).32 This resembles a procedure used during the Florentine Quattrocento in the circle of the Verrocchio workshop, which involved clothing sculptural models in plaster-soaked fabric in order to execute drapery studies.33 Through the differentiated deployment of light and shadow values, as Markus Rath has shown with reference to a monochrome drapery study from the Berlin Kupferstichkabinett,34 such drapery studies display pronounced effects of rilievo that are associated with the strikingly corporeal presence of the depicted objects.35
Jacopo Sansovino, Madonna (Virgin and Child), c.1510â1511, 65.5 à 23.5 à 19 cm, wax, gilded canvas, Budapest, Szépmüvészeti Múzeum, Inv. Nr. 1177 (detail)
IMAGE: SZÃPMÅ°VÃSZETI MÃZEUM/MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, BUDAPEST, 2023
In view of these workshop practices, it seems likely that del Sarto did not simply use Sansovinoâs sculptural models as a source for motifs, but also to investigate effects of light, shadow, and plasticity on both garments and parts of bodies. After all, del Sartoâs Charity fresco possesses an emphatically sculptural quality, and as characterized by the above-cited description by Francesco Bocchi, the skillful application of chiaroscuro endows the parts that are bathed in light, when viewed from a certain distance, with an impression of sublimity, allowing them to emerge from the surface as though three-dimensional.
In his description of the Charity fresco cited above, Francesco Bocchi gives voice to an ambivalent quality that is inherent to these figures: they have the appearance of feigned sculptures, but also of animate beings.36 This
With del Sarto, this discourse â given his recourse to specific sculptural works by Sansovino â seems however to have involved a more emphatic confrontation with actual sculpture: an impression of lifelikeness is a quality that is also attributable to Jacopo Sansovinoâs sculptural work. Alongside Michelangelo and Andrea Sansovino, Jacopo Sansovino was among the Florentine sculptors of the early Cinquecento who aspired to endow their figures with maximum liveliness through the use of dynamic movement motifs. With Sansovinoâs Budapest Madonna and his terracotta model of Charity, it is the children in particular that manifest a physical dynamism that give them a
Andrea del Sarto, Baptism of Christ, c.1511/13, fresco, Florence, Chiostro dello Scalzo
IMAGE: KUNSTHISTORISCHES INSTITUT IN FLORENZ, MAX-PLANCK-INSTITUT / PHOTO: RABATTI â DOMINIGIE PHOTOGRAPHY
Andrea Sansovino, Baptism of Christ, 1502â1505, marble, Florence, Baptistery, in: J. Poeschke, Die Skulptur der Renaissance in Italien. Band 2 Michelangelo und seine Zeit, Munich 1992, table 110
IMAGE: J. POESCHKE
Also taking into account the close friendship joining the painter del Sarto and the sculptor Sansovino, it seems more plausible to interpret del Sartoâs references to the sculptural medium as a friendly challenge, and less with regard to the mechanisms of competition and rivalry. The aim of making figures as lively and vivid as possible was evidently shared by Florentine painters and sculptors of the early Cinquecento, and the productive friction between painting and sculpture seems to have been a catalyzing factor, a stimulus to the discovery of innovative solutions.
An emphatically sculptural quality is inherent to the twelve historical scenes in the Chiostro dello Scalzo as well, a consequence of the renunciation of a full palette of colors and the pronounced rilievo of the figures, particularly when it comes to the sculptural shaping of the garments.
The horizontal pictorial fields, which display narrative scenes from the life of John the Baptist, are set in open landscapes or in front of buildings. Through the simulated framing architecture, the horizontal formats, and the narrative contextualization of the scenes, however, these biblical scenes do not evoke the impression of fully rounded sculptures, and seem instead to allude to the sculptural medium of the relief.
The personifications of the Virtues and the narrative scenes display contrasting modes of representation respectively, each doubtless also grounded in their respective contents: through their larger dimensions and statuary appearance, the Virtues in their simulated niches possess a more immediate
Detectable in the frescoes in the Chiostro dello Scalzo, then, are allusions to the sculptural medium (both to statues and to reliefs),47 while the reduction of color in particular evokes comparisons with marble sculpture, as thematized already by Vasari, who introduces a comparison with ʻvive istorie di marmoʼ in connection with the narrative frescoes.48 The allusions to the medium of the relief in the narrative scenes is certainly more subtle than those to rounded sculpture in the personifications of the Virtues, although it is possible that the heightened significance of Florentine relief in the Quattrocento and the currency of certain monumental early-16th century relief projects (in particular the project for the sculptural facade of S. Lorenzo in Florence, which was presented between late 1515 and summer of 1516, and for which Jacopo Sansovino too contributed a design with statues and large-format narrative reliefs), may have intensified comparisons with the Florentine art of the relief; it therefore seems plausible that local competitions may have played a role here as well.49
2 Intermedial References II: Color-Reduced Wall Painting and Graphics
Coloristically, the frescoes are restricted to various gradations of brown, green, and grey, and their sculptural impact results in particular from the use of white heightening in concert with nuanced shadowed areas.51 It is therefore primarily the use of chiaroscuro and the painterly and graphic means used in its service that generate pronounced effects of rilievo.52 In his wall paintings, by means of differentiated gradations of light and shadow values, which are also generated â as in the fresco John the Baptist Preaching in the Desert (figure 8.10) â by parallel or crosswise hatching lines and superimposed dotting, as well as highlights created through white heightening, del Sarto investigated the aesthetic potential of chiaroscuro. The luminous appearance of the figures, their apparent three-dimensional emergence from the plane surface, is enhanced further by the gilding of individual details, for example Charityâs crown or the Baptistâs halo. At the same time, some passages display a pronounced painterly quality which results from the freer handling of the brush, for example the section of landscape appearing in the upper left in John the Baptist Preaching.
Andrea del Sarto, John the Baptist Preaching in the Desert, c.1515, fresco, Florence, Chiostro dello Scalzo (detail)
IMAGE: KUNSTHISTORISCHES INSTITUT IN FLORENZ, MAX-PLANCK-INSTITUT / PHOTO: RABATTI â DOMINIGIE PHOTOGRAPHY
Andrea del Sarto, The Tribute to Caesar, c.1519/21, brush in brown and gray over black chalk, heightened with white, on brown primed paper, 43 à 33.5 cm, Paris, Louvre, Département des Arts Graphiques, INV 1673, Recto
IMAGE: RMN-GRAND PALAIS [MUSÃE DU LOUVRE] / MICHEL URTADO
Andrea del Sarto, The Baptism of the People, c.1515, fresco, Florence, Chiostro dello Scalzo
IMAGE: KUNSTHISTORISCHES INSTITUT IN FLORENZ, MAX-PLANCK-INSTITUT / PHOTO: RABATTI â DOMINIGIE PHOTOGRAPHY
Andrea del Sarto, John the Baptist Preaching in the Desert, c.1515, fresco, Florence, Chiostro dello Scalzo
IMAGE: KUNSTHISTORISCHES INSTITUT IN FLORENZ, MAX-PLANCK-INSTITUT / PHOTO: RABATTI â DOMINIGIE PHOTOGRAPHY
Albrecht Dürer, Ecce Homo, from The Passion, 1512, engraving, 11.8 à 7.5 cm, New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
PUBLIC DOMAIN
However when he came to paint the Arrest, in summer 1517, he again changed his mind and reverted to a softer, warmer monochrome rather closer to the one with which he had started, but with one important difference; the tonal levels here are differentiated in the exact nuance of colour like the block-printing of a chiaroscuro woodcut. The latter was a new medium assuming great importance at this precise moment in Rome, and it is quite possible that its rich pictorial effects inspired Sartoʼs technical development towards a more complex monochrome.58
Andrea del Sarto, Arrest of John the Baptist, c.1517, fresco, Florence, Chiostro dello Scalzo
IMAGE: KUNSTHISTORISCHES INSTITUT IN FLORENZ, MAX-PLANCK-INSTITUT / PHOTO: RABATTI â DOMINIGIE PHOTOGRAPHY
The technique of the chiaroscuro woodcut, where a motif is printed using two or more blocks with multiple colors, was invented north of the Alps around 1508 and introduced into Italy around 1516 by artists such as Ugo da Carpi.59 One particular attraction of the technique was its capacity to produce painterly chiaroscuro effects comparable to those seen in monochrome wash and pen-and-ink drawings, and it seems quite plausible, as Shearman assumes, that del Sarto sought to familiarize himself with this new printing technique.60
The adaption by del Sarto of motifs from engravings and woodcuts by Dürer document that he was preoccupied in his frescoes with the graphic media, and Sydney Freedberg has aptly noted that through the reduction of color, it was first and foremost del Sartoâs talent as a draftsman that came into play here.61 As argued above with regard to intermedial references to sculpture, it is not simply a question of motivic borrowings, but instead, beyond this, of a confrontation with the characteristic representational means and effects of the respective medium. Evidently, del Sarto strove to produce effects in the medium of wall painting that would be comparable to those resulting from the innovative practices of chiaroscuro drawings and woodcuts. As mentioned above, the use of chiaroscuro in the frescoes seems to be bound up in particular with del Sartoâs attempt to generate emphatic effects of rilievo. The question arises, however, whether other aesthetic concepts play a role here in the practice
Andrea del Sartoâs frescoes, then, not only involve a confrontation with (marble) sculpture, but also with the graphic media. As in the case of the sculptural medium, nonetheless, we can by no means speak of the straightforward imitation of specific artistic procedures found in drawing or printmaking. Important here is an attentiveness to the format of the frescoes and the circumstance that collectively, they formed a room decoration: through the monumental scale of the frescoes and the sequence of images, which were perceived in spatial terms by the beholder, del Sarto generated an aesthetic experience that is fundamentally different from the mode of perception associated with the graphic media.
3 The Interaction of Media
Clearly, then, these wall paintings, each embedded in a comprehensive decorative framing system, manifest a variety of intermedial references or concepts. While the four personifications of the Virtues create the impression of fully three-dimensional, highly animated statues occupying niches, the multifigured narrative scenes first of all display sculptural qualities that bring them close to the art of the relief, and secondly, painterly and graphic values
Andrea del Sarto, Charity, c.1513, fresco, Florence, Chiostro dello Scalzo
IMAGE: KUNSTHISTORISCHES INSTITUT IN FLORENZ, MAX-PLANCK-INSTITUT / PHOTO: RABATTI â DOMINIGIE PHOTOGRAPHY
Through the adaptation and simulation of specific characteristics of the media of sculpture and the graphic arts, along with their aesthetic effects, del Sarto demonstrated the fictive potential of monochrome wall painting, at the same time showcasing his own artistry by giving form to his image program using a limited palette of colors.66
Regarding aesthetic impact, intermedial references contribute to establishing a further level of reality, one that proffers an additional potential meaning for the (sophisticated) beholder. They can also be understood as a specialized resource for heightening impact. The allusion to sculpture seems closely bound up with the intention of heightening the appearance of the frescoes. Analogies to the chiaroscuro drawing or woodcut have a comparable effect, yet at the same time, they give rise to painterly qualities. Their interaction generates tension, for the sculptural character of the frescoes, the consistent illusion of three-dimensionality, is countered by their painterly effects.67 This emphasis on genuinely painterly qualities should however not interpreted as an intentional competition with sculpture, and hence as an expression of a paragone, but instead as an artistic mean designed to intensify the impact on the beholder. From the perspective of reception, the combined use of painterly and seemingly three-dimensional elements results in a highly-charged oscillation between haptic and optical impressions. The media interpenetrate, each heightening the otherâs impact.
In the research, the grisaille painting of the late Middle Ages and early modern era (I have recourse here in a simplified way to a generic term for diverse varieties of color-reduced painting) is often subdivided into two main tendencies: first, there is the sculptural or stone painting, which is generally
4 Powerful Images
It seems reasonable to assume that it was not artistic-aesthetic motives alone that led to the creation of a color-reduced fresco cycle, that theological factors, i.e. the aim of encouraging piety, played a decisive role as well. With color-reduced wall paintings, the renunciation of precious pigments and coloristic splendor meant the choice of an economical, âquietâ decorative form
The door opposite the entrance, which has meanwhile been walled up, originally led into the chapel and the assembly rooms of the fraternity that lay behind, where ritual activities â including flagellation â were performed, so that the Chiostro demarcated a threshold space between the inner and outer worlds (figure 8.6).83 Before the fraternity members entered the chapel and the other spaces, they would have been collectively attuned by del Sartoâs monochrome frescoes to the pious aims and ideals of the fraternity, and emotionally affected by the intensely-present wall paintings, with their three-dimensional appearance. That the use of chiaroscuro played a decisive role here is substantiated by the circumstance that the statutes of the fraternity stipulated that the
To date, the phenomenon of color reduction in late medieval and early modern painting has yet to receive a conclusive interpretation, and it is of interest to note that the various explanatory approaches proposed are often in contention with one another: some interpretive attempts, for example, argue for the relevance of art-theoretical issues (paragone, the demonstration of artistic skill, and so forth), while other researchers tend to relativize art-theoretical considerations and instead foreground theological or liturgical motivations as explanatory models.87 The present essay instead argues that it is necessary to consider the art-reflexive potential of the frescoes in the Chiostro dello Scalzo in conjunction with their functional context and related devotional practices â not however with regard to a potential competition between the arts, but instead in relation to reflections on collaboration between the media, with the intention of creating haunting, potent images that were intended to heighten the devotion and humility of the fraternity members while acting as a stimulus toward meditative contemplation. References to the sculptural medium heightened the three-dimensional corporeality of the fictive figures, while the sheer complexity of the implied intermedial references and the resultant perceptual ambiguity encouraged viewers to engage in intensive and protracted viewing.
The color-reduced fresco cycle in the Chiostro dello Scalzo in Florence, dating from the early Cinquecento, was chosen as an exemplary case because synagonistic processes can be identified here on many levels. This relates first to the friendship and productive exchange between the painter Andrea del Sarto and the sculptor Jacopo Sansovino. While to date, the research has shed light on the exchange between these two artists primarily from stylistic and formal-aesthetic perspectives, this essay discussed references to Sansovinoâs sculptural model in the working process for the Charity fresco as a process of medial appropriation and transformation and argued that the suggestion of a lifelike presence was an aim shared by del Sartoâs Charity and Sansovinoâs sculptural works.
The complexity of the intermedial references in del Sartoâs fresco cycle is manifest in the fact that the painter not only alludes to the sculptural medium, but to the graphic media as well. In doing so, he fathomed the affinity for and interdependency with other monochrome image media, first the (color-reduced) sculpture, and secondly the graphic arts, in particular the hand drawing and the chiaroscuro woodcut. The synergy between the media that results from this complex set of intermedial references in the medium of wall painting can be conceived as a synagonistic added value: the media, which stand in a relationship of tension, fertilize one another reciprocally, heightening their impact on the beholder.
It seems likely that intermedial references play a significant role in other works by del Sarto as well, a topic worth investigating more deeply than the level of motivic references.88 Considering Vasariâs assertion that the exchange between the two artists was reciprocal in nature, it would also be worth asking whether this productive process was reflected as well in Jacopo Sansovino sculptural oeuvre.89 Potentially relevant alongside Sansovinoâs Cartapesta reliefs, where the use of color positions this medium in close proximity to painting,90 would be marble sculptures, such as the Madonna del Parto (1518â1521, Rome, S. Agostino), which rotates in relation to the niche as though genuinely
The relationship between Andrea del Sarto and Jacopo Sansovino, documented by Vasari, is a striking example of a close friendship between a painter and a sculptor in the early modern era, and the associated process of conceptual and artistic exchange, and one that is moreover far from unique, as shown by other examples from the Cinquecento. Contemporary sources report that in Venice, where he settled in 1527 during the Sack of Rome, Jacopo Sansovino developed a close friendship with the painter Titian, and that the two artists engaged in intellectual exchanges concerning topics related to the paragone in the circle of the writer Pietro Aretino.92
An additional such instance is the friendship and productive collaboration between the terracotta sculptor Antonio Begarelli (1499â1565) and the painter Correggio (1489â1534), about which no contemporary sources have however been discovered to date; the earliest mention of their relations dates from the 17th century.93 In his Raccolta deʼPittori, Scultori, et Architetti Modonesi più celebri (1662), the Modenese historian Lodovico Vedriani reports that Begarelli executed terracotta models for use by Correggio in his working process for the cupola fresco in the Cathedral of Parma, while Correggio in turn is said to have modeled three of the figures for Begarelliâs multi-figure Deposition (S. Francesco, Modena).94 And although â given the absence of contemporary textual sources â their collaboration has not been documented beyond doubt, it would be worthwhile to examine the shared artistic qualities and expressive forms of these artists from Emilia-Romagna more closely, both of whose oeuvres are characterized by âtender modeling and soft chiaroscuroâ.95 While sculptors and painters confronted one another as antagonistic parties in the academic and theoretical paragone debate of the Cinquecento, at times presenting their arguments with great vehemence, the instances discussed here instead suggest instead a friendly and playful competition between the media in artistic practice, a productive interplay that suggests a more complex image of the relationship between the arts in the Cinquecento.
The monochrome frescoes in the Chiostro dello Scalzo reveal a heightened and reflexive consciousness by del Sarto concerning the mediality of the
Stephan Kemperdick too, who has studied 15th and early 16th century grisaille painting north of the Alps, discusses the adoption of certain representational resources that were developed first in print media before being transferred to monochrome painting.98 In their search for sophisticated and vivid modes of depiction, early modern artists were evidently preoccupied with novel techniques in use for other monochrome image media, and often explored the affinities between them. In the southern and northern Alpine regions around 1500, color reduction seems to have been connected to an orientation toward materiality and the investigation of surface textures. Referenced here might be the engravings and woodcuts of Albrecht Dürer (which Andrea del Sarto clearly drew upon in his fresco cycle), but also Tilman Riemenschneiderâs color-reduced carved altarpieces, whose surfaces he structured sculpturally and finished with lightly-tinted, yellowish-brown glazes, or Veit StoÃ, who in certain works â among them the St. Roche in Ss. Annunziata in Florence â seemed to transform the wooden material into gleaming bronze through the virtuoso surface treatment.99 Andrea del Sartoâs chiaroscuro frescoes too should be viewed against this horizon: through fine gradations of light and dark, through the âshining forthâ and sculptural emergence of the figures from the shadowed surfaces, the allusion to other artistic materials
The reflections on artistic media encountered in the written documents of the paragone debate, then, reverberate as well in artistic practice, an instructive instance being the color-reduced frescoes in the Chiostro dello Scalzo. A self-reflexive quality is inherent to them, for the artistic media involved, their media-specific properties and their mimetic and fictional potential are negotiated playfully by del Sarto and rendered fruitful with regard to aesthetic impact. A synagonistic perspective has the potential to heighten our awareness of the complexity and productivity of this intermedial discourse, which cannot be fully comprehended either through references to stylistic and motivic âinfluencesâ that cross medial boundaries, nor with the catchphrase paragone.
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For invaluable references, my thanks to the members of the DFG network Synagonism in the Visual Arts, to my colleagues in Bonn and to Ian Pepper for the English translation of my text.
Since the individual frescoes of the Chiostro dello Scalzo differ in coloration and tonality, so that it is not simply a question of various gray tones, the present author avoids the common term âgrisailleâ (derived from the French gris, gray); it seems more appropriate to speak instead of frescoes that are coloristically reduced or monochrome, although the latter term is inapplicable, strictly speaking, since it is not solely a question here of tonal gradations within a single color. On terminological issues regarding color-reduced wall painting, see most recently the differentiated discussion in Stahlbuhk 2021, 25â29. For more on the term âgrisaille paintingâ, see Krieger 1995, esp. 3â6.
â[B]ellissima è la figura della Caritá, con tre puttini, uno deâquali tiene in collo, & due sono da basso da una banda, & dallâaltra. In queste quattro figure si conosce la rara intelligenza di questo nobile artefice: però che quelle parti, se fossero di rilievo, che sono illuminate dalla natura, con sicura pratica sono toccate quì molto col chiaro, & da altra parte con lâoscuro, in giusa che spiccano miralbilmente dal muro, et alquanto dilungi paiono di rilievo. E perche primamente non imitano il vivo, mal il marmo, col quale tuttavia si imita il vivo chi dirà (poscia che con tanta forza sono state effigiate) che vere non siano queste figure, & di marmo?â Bocchi 1971, 237 (English translation from Bocchi 2006, 221).
Shearman 1965, vol. 1, 62. See also the discussion in Myssok 1999, 211.
Both the stylistic attribution to Jacopo Sansovino as well as the cited arguments for the hypothesis that the terracotta model preceded the fresco, and that the fresco emulates it, seem plausible. See Dickerson 2010, 30â34.
Cf. Vasari 1966â1987, here vol. 4, 346, and Vasari 1966â1987, vol. 6, 177. See also Shearman 1965, vol. 1, 62; Boucher 1991, vol. 1, 17 f.
Ê»Giovò anco pur assai allâuno ed allâaltro la pratica e lâamicizia, che nella loro fanciullezza, e poi nella gioventù ebbero insieme Andrea del Sarto et Iacopo Sansovino; i quali seguitando la maniera medesima nel disegno, ebbero la medesima grazia nel fare, lâuno nella pittura e lâaltro nella scultura: per che, conferendo insieme i dubbii dellâarte e facendo Iacopo per Andrea modelli di figure, sâaiutavano lâun lâaltro sommamente ⦠ʼ. Vasari 1966â1987, vol. 6, 177. As an example, Vasari mentions Sansovinoâs clay model of a figure of John the Baptist, which del Sarto used for the figure of John the Baptist in his Madonna of the Harpies (1517). Cf. ibid.
Vasari 1966â1987, vol. 4, 361 f. and Vasari 1966â1987, vol. 6, 182.
Cf. Shearman 1965, vol. 1, 63 f.; Boucher 1991, vol. 1, 20; Morresi 2000, 367â372.
Shearman 1965, vol. 1, 62.
Christine Tauber has sensitized us to the art-historiographical problematic according to which discussions of âstylistic influenceâ are often bound up with the notion of an inflow of passively received material. See Tauber 2019.
In this essay, I elaborate upon ideas from my dissertation, and take them further with reference to the frescoes in the Chiostro dello Scalzo. Cf. BoeÃenecker 2020, 371â373.
The literary scholar Irina O. Rajewsky distinguishes three types of intermedial phenomena: medial transposition, media combination, and intermedial references. She conceives of an intermedial reference as a procedure for constituting meaning in which âthe given media-product thematizes, evokes, or imitates elements or structures of another, conventionally distinct medium through the use of its own media-specific meansâ. Rajewsky 2005, 51. See also Rajewsky 2002, 17.
At this point, there exists no detailed monographic study of the coloristically reduced frescoes in the Chiostro dello Scalzo that is attentive to their specifically medial qualities. On the fresco cycle, see Freedberg 1963; Shearman 1965, here vol. 1, 52â74 and vol. 2, 294â307; Proto Pisani 2004; Hirdt 2006. Under the premise of âreading picturesʼ, Hirdt devotes himself among other things to their iconography and underlying literary sources. He attributes little importance, however, to their artistic design or reduced coloration. On the use of coloristic reduction as a resource for engendering piety, see most recently Stahlbuhk 2021, esp. cat. 15, 257â259.
This focus on rivalry and competition is reflected in the title of central publications on the paragone debate, even though they do of course acknowledge the productivity of competition as an engine of artistic creativity. See cat. Munich & Cologne 2002; Prochno-Schinkel 2006; Baader et al. 2007; Hessler 2014; Lehmann 2017.
Cf. Hadjinicolaou, Rath & van Gastel 2014. Important considerations on the productive interaction of the arts in the early modern period and on media discourses before the paragone are also provided by Iris Wenderholm in her study on so-called intermediary altarpieces: Wenderholm 2006.
Although the theoretical paragone debate reached its highpoint only in the mid-Cinquecento with Benedetto Varchiâs artistâs survey, the discussion had already become heated around 1500, and, Leonardo, among others, had already addressed the question of the ranking of the arts intensively in his writings. On the paragone in the Quattrocento, see Hessler 2014.
Hadjinicolaou 2018, 152. See also the introduction to this volume.
On the conversion measures undertaken by the architect Pietro Giovanozzi in 1722, see Shearman 1960.
During del Sartoâs stay in France in 1518/1519, moreover, two of the frescoes were executed by Franciabigio.
Cf. Vasari 1966â1987, vol. 4, 369; Bocchi 1971, 238.
The cycle begins with the Annunciation to Zachary to the right of the entrance, and concludes with the Presentation of the Head of John the Baptist to the left of the entrance, so that the reading direction of the episodes from the life of John the Baptist runs counterclockwise. The frescoes were however not painted in chronological order; del Sarto began with the Baptism of Christ (circa 1511). Cf. Freedberg 1963, vol. 1, p. 29; Shearman 1965, vol. 1, 57.
Worth exploring is the relationship and interplay between the simulated framing architecture and the real architecture of the inner courtyard, one hindered by the modifications undertaken in 1722; this question cannot be pursued further here. Shearman perceives discrepancies between architecture and the painted decor: according to his reconstruction, which might constitute a point of departure for subsequent investigations, the original building had neither arcades nor a dome, and instead a flat roof. According to Shearman, the chiaroscuro paintings in the lunette fields above the rectangular history frescoes were therefore not part of the painted decoration from the early Cinquecento, but were applied only in the course of conversion measures. Cf. Shearman 1960. Useful for the sake of a clarification of the relationship between architecture and painted decoration would be a consideration of the tradition of reduced coloration in Florentine Quattrocento architecture, and a preference for local gray macigno sandstone for dividing elements of the architecture.
Cf. Freedberg 1963, vol. 1, 32; Shearman 1965, vol. 1, 55.
Giotto: Vices and Virtues, 1303â1305, Padua, Cappella degli Scrovegni (Arena Chapel).
The phenomenon of painted sculpture in Dutch and German grisaille painting of the 15th and early 16th century has stimulated a diversity of interpretive research approaches. On this topic see especially Täube 1991. For an overview of the literature, see Krieger 1996; Bushart & Wedekind 2016, XII, n. 19. Cf. also the contribution by Sandra Hindriks, chapter 9 in the present volume.
Cf. Dickerson 2010, 30 f.
On the significance of viewing sides for our perception of sculpture, see van Gastel 2014. It should be mentioned here that in the context of the paragone debate, as we know, the multiple points of view offered by a sculpture constituted a central argument for the advocates of sculpture, and in particular Benvenuto Cellini, when it came to substantiating the superiority of their medium. On multiple views in sculpture in relation to the paragone debate, see Morét 2003.
Cf. Dickerson 2010, 31.
Vasari 1966â1987, vol. 6, S. 179.
Cf. Myssok 1999, 214 f. and 352. Myssok however regards the correspondences between Sansovinoâs Budapest Madonna and del Sartoâs Charity to be minimal, and concludes that the first did not necessarily serve as a model for the second. Cf. ibid. 214.
On technical matters, cf. the information detailed in ibid., 225, 352.
Cf. ibid., 225.
Leonardo da Vinci or Domenico Ghirlandaio, Drapery Study of the Apostle Matthew, circa 1475, 236 Ã 177 mm, brush in brown tones with white highlighting on brownish primed canvas, Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett.
See n. 2. This liveliness is also mentioned by Vasari as a quality of the history scenes, who, in connection with the fresco Baptism of the People, elicits a comparison with Ê»vive istorie di marmoʼ, and hence an interpretation of the frescoes as evocations of a specific material of sculpture. Vasari 1966â1987, vol. 4, 359 f.
Steiner 1990, esp. 75.
Steiner 1990, 74 ff.
Grams-Thieme 1988. The intriguing oscillation between the impression of stone sculpture and a living form is explored consistently by a number of painters, and implemented in various ways. An interesting example is Hans Memlingâs Annunciation on the exterior of the triptych for Jan Crabbe (1467, Bruges, Groeningemuseum). Gabriel and Mary are set on pedestals and within niches, an explicit allusion to the conventional presentation of sculpture, yet the hair and flesh are rendered in ânaturalâ colors, which is to say not in the gray tones of stone, allowing the figures to appear as animate beings. The use of a fine bluish shimmer sets the white garments off from the gray stone of the stone bases; nonetheless, the question arises of whether the tone of the garments might not be interpretable as alluding to a specific stone, for example grayish-blue limestone from Tournai, yet another manifestation of ambiguity.
The importance and significance of liveliness (vivacità ) as a central topos of early modern art and art theory has been investigated by Frank Fehrenbach (Fehrenbach 2021).
Cf. Shearman 1965, vol. 1, 61.
Cf. Körner 2003, 228 f.
Cf. ibid., 226.
With the arguments put forth in Rudolf Preimesbergerâs discussion of Jan van Eyckâs Annunciation Diptych in Madrid as a point of departure, a widely disseminated interpretive approach has consisted in interpreting the âimitation sculpturesâ of grisaille painting as expressions of an artistic paragone. Cf. Preimesberger 1991. In the more recent research, however, the relevance of the paragone argument â along with associated arguments concerning âpainted art theoryâ â have been increasingly called into question, especially for the region north of the Alps. Cf. Kemperdick 2016, esp. 26 f., and the contribution by Sandra Hindriks, chapter 9 in the present volume.
A comparable interpretation was proposed already by Andrea Lermer in relation to Giottoâs Virtues and Vices in the Arena Chapel, which are presented in the plinth zone, and hence at eye level with the beholder. Lermer relies upon a text by Sicardus of Cremona (1155â1215), who emphasized the didactic content of imagery, discussing the Virtues and Vices as exempla of relevance to the present. Cf. Lermer 2007, here 308 f. For sources texts by Sicardus of Cremona, cf. Cremonensis 1855, column 40.
In the frescoes The Blessing of the Young St. John, John the Baptist Preaching in the Desert, The Capture of St. John the Baptist, and The Beheading of St. John the Baptist, the affective language of the figures is especially emphatic. Del Sartoâs capacity to depict human affects using only chiaroscuro was singled out for special praise by Francesco Bocchi. Cf. Bocchi 1971, 238.
That Andrea del Sartoâs frescoes in the Chiostro dello Scalzo served in turn as a point of departure for later statues and reliefs, thereby carrying forward this intermedial discourse, is demonstrated by Baccio Bandinelliâs marble relief The Birth of the Virgin Mary (1518, Santa Casa di Loreto), where Bandinelli to some extent takes up the bodily posture of del Sartoâs Charity in the female figure who holds a child on her arm on the right side.
See n. 36.
On Florentine relief art in the Quattrocento and early Cinquecento, see Niehaus 1998. On the facade projects for S. Lorenzo, see Satzinger 2011; on the design by Jacopo Sansovino, esp. p. 25 f. and 45 f. and figure 15. On the predilection for sculptural decoration with large-scale reliefs around 1500, cf. ibid., 168 ff.
Nonetheless, Francesco Bocchi â who praised the frescoes exorbitantly â seems to have viewed them in this way, perceiving them primarily as imitations of marble, not of nature. Cf. Bocchi 1971, p. 245.
In her recently published dissertation Oltre il colore. Die farbreduzierte Wandmalerei zwischen Humilitas und Observanzreformen, Katharine Stahlbuhk associates the frescoes in the Chiostro dello Scalzo with terra verde painting, a group of wall paintings executed in green tones, among whom she includes murals that feature the use of the so-called âgreen earthâ pigments, but also those in which a mixture of greenish pigments prevails. See Stahlbuhk 2021, p. 28 and cat. 15, p. 257 ff.
The intimate connection between chiaroscuro and rilievo is emphasized in early modern art theory, beginning with Cennino Cenniniâs treatise on painting. See Lehmann 2018.
See Schneider 2012, 78 f.
For a discussion of these aspects, see Schäffner 2009, 72â75; Stahlbuhk 2021, 53 ff. On color-reduced wall painting, see also Kraft 1956; Dittelbach 1993. On colored ground drawing, which is to say chiaroscuro drawing on color-toned paper, see Brahms 2016. On chiaroscuro, see Lehmann 2018.
Vasari 1966â1987, vol. 4, 359 f.
See Shearman 1965, vol. 1, 66; Cordellier 2015, 20.
See Shearman 1965, vol. 1, 56 f.
See Shearman 1965, vol. 1, 57.
On the chiaroscuro woodcut, see cat. Vienna 2013; cat. Los Angeles & Washington 2018.
References to other works, media, or techniques are detectable in chiaroscuro woodcuts on further levels as well: in Italy, the chiaroscuro woodcut often adapted pictorial formulae by other artists; Ugo da Carpi, for example, often worked from designs by Raphael or Parmigianino. References to other media appear as well, since the chiaroscuro woodcut was used in the late 16th century for print reproductions of three-dimensional sculptures and reliefs (for example Andrea Andreani after Giambologna). See van Gastel 2007. On the translation of statues and reliefs into print see recently Bloemacher, Richter & Faietti 2021.
See Freedberg 1963, vol. 1, 30.
âVogliono i pittori che il chiaroscuro sia una forma di pittura che tragga più al disegno che al colorito, perché ciò è stato cavato da le statue di marmo, contrafacendole, e da le figure di bronzo et altre varie pietreâ. Vasari 1966â1987, vol. 1, 139. For the context under discussion here, it is not uninteresting to note that Vasari here traces chiaroscuro back to the imitation of statues in marble, bronze, or other stone materials.
For a broader discussion of the term disegno, see Kemp 1974; for the current literary discussion of disegno in Vasari, see Pfisterer 2016, 219, n. 7.
Klaus Kraft has explained the emergence of monochrome wall painting by, among other things, the growing esteem accorded to disegno in early modern art theory. See Kraft 1956, 4 f.
See Shearman 1965, vol. 1, 65.
In other contexts as well, color reduction has been interpreted as a deliberate restriction of artistic resources through which the artist strives to showcase his mastery. See Preimesberger 1991, 481 ff. On the concept of the conscious renunciation of color in painting, which is documented already for antiquity, see Bushart & Wedekind 2016, X.
This tension has already been noted with regard to the impact of other grisaille paintings. See the observations of Krieger 1996, 584; Biermann 2000, 121; Schäffner 2009, 132.
See for example the discussion in Krieger 1995, 3 ff., or more recently Stahlbuhk 2021, 13 f. and 27 f. This distinction has of course been differentiated further for various periods or cultural milieus. Stephan Kemperdick, for example, distinguishes three central variants of grisaille painting in the 15th and early 16th centuries north of the Alps. See Kemperdick 2016, esp. 16 â25.
See for example Kemperdick 2016, 21.
Cf. Stahlbuhk 2021, 259.
Katharine Stahlbuhk too problematizes the interpretation of the frescoes in the Chiostro dello Scalzo as imitations of marble, and assigns the frescoes to the figural-scenic tradition of terra verde painting (see Stahlbuhk 2021, 259). In the present essay, it is instead argued that while we can hardly speak of straightforward material imitation, intermedia references are indeed of central importance on the level of aesthetic impact, and that Andrea del Sartoâs frescoes must be distinguished in this regard from other color-reduced wall paintings which deploy color reduction in an abstract manner without reflecting upon or rendering fruitful other visual media or artistic materials.
On this aspect of monochrome wall painting, see Schäffner 2009, 133â139. With regard to possible theological or liturgical motives, researchers have proposed a close connection to Lenten rites. This is grounded in the use of monochromatic textiles to cover altar images during Lent, as well as the frequent appearance of grisaille depictions on the outer wings of folding altarpieces. See Teasdale Smith 1959. The argument for cost savings as a primary motivation for color-reduced wall painting, which has been proposed often by researchers, and which has at times led to a blatantly negative valuation of such works, has been rejected in the current research, not least of all due to the prominent places of display of many such frescoes, and the positive judgments of chiaroscuro painting expressed by contemporaries. On this aspect, see Stahlbuhk 2021, 10 and 15 f.
See Freedberg 1963, vol. 1, 30. On the penitential fraternities in Italy, see also Dehmer 2009; Chen 2018.
See Shearman 1965, vol. 1, 52. On the archival documents testifying to del Sartoâs membership in the Compagnia dello Scalzo beginning in 1517, see OʼBrien 2005. The fraternity membership included merchants and craftsmen, but also artists, among them leading painters, goldsmiths, sculptors, and architects. See OʼBrien 2014.
In a recent study, Katharine Stahlbuhk has explored the encouragement of piety as a motivation for color-reduced wall painting in the Quattrocento in the spirit of humilitas, and discusses the frescoes in the Chiostro dello Scalzo in this context. See Stahlbuhk 2021, esp. cat. 15, 257â259.
See Hirdt 2006, 100.
Also, Almut Schäffner has stressed the capacity of monochrome wall painting to enhance meditation. Cf. Schäffner 2009, 133.
See n. 2.
Widely diffused in the early modern treatise literature, as Valeska von Rosen has shown, is the notion that a painting that displays a successful rilievo is powerfully effective, which is why the terms forza and rilievo are frequently used in the same context. See von Rosen 2000, 185.
Freedberg 1963, vol. 1, 29; Shearman 1965, vol. 1, 53.
With reference to Goethe and Hegel, see Steiner 1990, 62; Bushart & Wedekind 2016, esp. IX and XVI.
See for example Wilhelm Durandus (1230â1296): âCortina alba significat munditiam, rubea caritatem, virides contemplationem [emphasis by the present author], nigra carnis mortificationem, livea trabulationemâ. Durandus, Rationale divinorum officiorum, I, iii, 39, cited from Stahlbuhk 2021, 11. For additional source materials, see ibid., 104â112.
See Shearman 1965, vol. 2, 294; OʼBrien 2005, 260.
On the liturgical sequence of the ritual and the relevant passage in the statutes, see Chen 2018, 186.
See most recently the discussion by Stahlbuhk 2021, 259.
On the significance of charitable ideas for the religious fraternities, see Dehmer 2009, 224 f.
See Bushart & Wedekind 2016, XII and the detailed discussion of the literature in ibid., n. 19 especially with regard to the numerous interpretive approaches to Netherlandish and Dutch grisaille painting in the early modern era.
References to sculpture seem relevant as well, for example to del Sartoâs Madonna of the Harpies (circa 1517); here, he creates the impression that the Madonna, who has been positioned on a pedestal, and is hence reminiscent of a statue, is being awakened to life. See Nagel 2011, 105; BoeÃenecker 2020, 371.
See n. 7. See Shearman 1965, 63 f.
On the Cartapesta reliefs, see Boucher 1991, here vol. 2, 345â351; Zindel 1992.
For greater detail, see BoeÃenecker 2020, 366â373.
On the âstrettissimi amiciâ Pietro Aretino, Jacopo Sansovino, and Titian, and their discussions of the paragone, see Boucher 1991, vol. 1, 69; von Rosen 2001, 92â98.
On a possible artistic exchange between the sculptor Begarelli and the painter Correggio, see Lightbown 1964; Gasparotto 2008; Bonsanti 2012.
Vedriani 1662, 48 and 50. See Lightbown 1964, 8 f.
Ibid., 7. On this aspect, see BoeÃenecker 2022.
Cf. Biermann 2000, 122.
See Biermann 2000, 123 f. The author discusses various comparative examples, del Sartoâs fresco cycle in the Chiostro dello Scalzo is not however mentioned as a possible model. See ibid., 124 f.
See Kemperdick 2016, 24 f.
See Dümpelmann 2018. On color-reduced wooden sculpture north of the Alps, see Taubert 1967; Rosenfeld 1990; Habenicht 2016.