A Case of Mistaken Identity: The Martellini Jupiter by Giovanni di Scherano Fancelli

• Autores: Louis Alexander Waldman
• Localización: Burlington magazine, ISSN 0007-6287, Vol. 140, Nº 1149, 1998, págs. 788-798
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • In the dimly-lit courtyard of the Palazzo Martellini in Florence stands a larger-than-life-size marble statue of a nude youth, an impressive but enigmatic work of the later Florentine Cinquecento (Figs. 1, 2 and 3).' Since it was first recorded around the turn of the century, the figure has lost little of its mystery. Scholars still disagree about both its subject and its authorship - despite the signature 'IOANNIS FANCELLII F. SCHERANI OPVs' on the stony outcrop supporting the left leg (Fig.4). But a re-examination of the evidence suggests new and definitive answers to both these questions. The purpose of this article is to suggest that the statue represents a Youthful Jupiter (reviving a theme common on Roman coinage), and that its signature (which scholars have incorrectly identified with various members of the Fancelli family) refers to Giovanni di Alessandro Fancelli, also called Giovanni di Scherano or Giovanni Scherani (d. 1588). The career of this sculptor - an artist before now almost completely unknown - can be reconstructed with the help of newly discovered archival evidence (see the Appendix below). The documents reveal that Giovanni di Scherano was a figure of some importance in late-Cinquecento Florence, who received commissions from the Grand Ducal Galleria, the Opera del Duomo, and from eminent private patrons.