The Status of Statuettes
Statuettes—small-scale figurative bronzes—are quintessential Renaissance objects. They also were, and continue to be, quintessential collectors’ objects. Inspired by ancient models and classical writings, they emerged in the mid-fifteenth century in different centers and contexts and were the products of diverse
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talents and technologies. However, they suffered fluctuating fates as tastes changed. Over time, the identities of their makers were frequently forgotten or confused, along with the identification of their subjects, and some were mistaken as actual antiquities rather than works created all’antica. The serious study and eager acquisition of small bronzes from the Renaissance can be connected to a number of factors: the enthusiasm for the period as a precursor to modern secular society, the emerging discipline of art history, and the booming art market in the nineteenth century. Despite more than 150 years of “scientific” connoisseurship, of cataloguing, of dedicated exhibitions, and of equally dedicated expertise, many questions remain about bronze statuettes. In this talk, Professor Patricia Rubin traces the critical fortunes of the genre and of selected sculptures over centuries of appreciation (and neglect) to reveal the ways that, once invented, these diminutive artworks were fashioned by time. This lecture is presented in conjunction with the special exhibition Siena: The Art of Bronze, 1450–1500. Speaker bio Patricia Rubin is Emeritus Professor of Renaissance Art and former director of the Institute of Fine Arts, NYU. She has also served as Deputy Director and Head of the Research Forum of the Courtauld Institute of Art and as Acting Director of Villa I Tatti in Florence. She is currently a Visiting Scholar at the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florence and a Trustee of both the National Gallery and Tate in London. Rubin’s publications include Giorgio Vasari: Art and History, Images and Identity in Fifteenth-Century Florence, and Seen from Behind: Perspectives on the Male Body and Renaissance Art. Among her research interests are the reception of Renaissance art, devotional art, the graphic arts, and portraiture. She recently published the essays “‘Perverse Images’: Monstrous Beauty and Monkey Business in Italian Art from Botticelli to Bronzino” and “Titian and the ‘Ethiop’s Ear.’” Principal Cultural Sponsor Leadership support is provided by an anonymous donor in honor of Ian Wardropper and by Margot and Jeremiah M. Bogert, Elizabeth M. and Jean-Marie R. Eveillard, and The Christian Humann Foundation. Major support is provided by Clémence and William von Mueffling, Fondazione Bracco, the Robert Lehman Foundation, the David L. Klein, Jr. Foundation, The Eric & Jane Nord Family Fund for Exhibition Programming, and The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation. Additional support is provided by Filippo Benappi; Andrew Butterfield and Claire Schiffman; The Helen Clay Frick Foundation; Mr. and Mrs. Hubert L. Goldschmidt; Jon and Barbara Landau; Wendy Lewison; Carlo Orsi, Trinity Fine Art; Jane Richards; Sabina and Harlan Stone; the Malcolm Hewitt Wiener Foundation; Bosilika An in honor of the Abbruzzese Family; Eric Blair-Joannou; Loren Davis; Bailey Foote; and Alexander Mason Hankin.