Tullio Lombardo and Venetian High Renaissance Sculpture

The great Venetian sculptors of the High Renaissance, led by Tullio Lombardo (c. 1455–1532), explored a poetic and nostalgic approach to classical antiquity in their work. Their expression shares much with Mantegna, Bellini, Giorgione, and Titian in these painters’ imaginative evocations of ancient history, mythology, philosophy, and poetry.

 

Featuring a range of Tullio’s work, including his sensuous and dramatic double-portrait reliefs, this book introduces the romantic qualities and beautiful craftsmanship of the sculptor and his closest followers, including his brother Antonio Lombardo, Simone Bianco, Antonio Minello, and Giammaria Mosca. Essays examine Tullio’s innovations and the Venetian cultural setting where he developed them in dialogue with the northern Italian masters of Renaissance painting. Twelve works, carefully selected from this milieu, exemplify the creative approach and influ­ence of Tullio and the Lombardo workshop.

Published in association with the National Gallery, Washington

Exhibition Schedule:

National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (7/4/09 – 10/31/09)

Alison Luchs is curator of early European sculpture at the National Gallery of Art.

Adriana Augusti is director of the Galleria Giorgio Franchetti alla Ca' d'Oro, Venice. Matteo Ceriana is deputy director of the Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan. Sarah Blake McHam is professor of art history at Rutgers University. Debra Pincus is an independent scholar in Washington. Alessandra Sarchi is research project manager at the Fondazione Federico Zeri, Università di Bologna.