Marks of Identity

The human face had never before received the scrutiny it was given during the Renaissance. Nor would any subsequent period sustain a comparable culture of countenance. Treatises of the 15th and 16th centuries analysed physiognomy, poets and dramatists of the epoch described the face as at once a mirror and a mask of inner truth, and countless works of art recorded the likenesses of individuals. Many of these portraits have achieved lasting fame as masterpieces. But this book of essays reveals how much more there is to learn about bronze portraiture, the form of commemoration valued above all others by Renaissance patrons. Benvenuto Cellini's portraits of two important Florentines - the banker Bindo Altoviti and Cosimo I de'Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany - are revealed to be triumphs of both technique and insight into character. The essays chosen for this volume delve into other issues of patronage and practice, offering a wide range of new findings on sculpture of the late Renaissance.