Giulio Romano e la produzione di argenti per Ferrante ed Ercole Gonzaga

• Autores: Guido Rebecchini
• Localización: Prospettiva: rivista di storia dell'arte antica e moderna, ISSN 0394-0802, Nº. 146, 2012, págs. 32-43
• Idioma: italiano
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• Dialnet Métricas: 1 Cita
• Resumen

  • The article discusses a series of previously unknown letters dating from the 1530s, which deal with the commissioning of several pieces of silverware crafted in Rome after drawings by Giulio Romano on behalf of Cardinal Ercole Gonzaga and his brother Ferrante Gonzaga, who were then living in Mantua and in Sicily respectively. This documentary material reveals the complexities of long-distance patronage and emphasizes the importance of the role played by diplomatic agents acting as artistic intermediaries. The latter were required to negotiate the multiple functional and representative needs of their patrons and to handle the practicalities of the commission, making sure that goldsmiths were honest and faithful to Giulio’s graphic inventions, and that the objects matched the expectations of their patrons. In order to perform their duties honourably, intermediaries intervened at every stage of the production of the objects they were entrusted to have made and in one of the cases discussed in the article, the Gonzaga agents even involved Michelangelo in evaluating the style and appropriateness of Giulio Romano’s drawings for a ceremonial mace. In conclusion, the article aims at deepening our understanding of the patronage of art works and ultimately calls into question the notion of the authorship of art objects such as those discussed in the Gonzaga correspondence, which appear to be the result of the participation of a number of different persons, including the patrons who initially expressed their wish to possess them, the master who invented them, other artists who were occasionally consulted on the form they should take, the goldsmiths who had to execute them, and especially the artistic agents, who had to coordinate and supervise the whole production process.