LAURANA, Francesco

In Naples, a great part of the finest sculpture of the Quattrocento is Florentine export works by Donatello, Michelozzo, Antonio Rossellino and Benedetto da Maiano. The principal local sculptor is Francesco Laurana. His relief (shown on the picture) on the Triumphal Arch of Alfonso I, executed together with Pietro da Milano, reveals him as charming, competent, and to a considerable extent heir to the tradition of Late Gothic realism.

The Dalmatian Laurana was an international sculptor. He worked in Naples, in France, in Sicily and finally until his death in France. His stylized and hypnotically ethereal portraits of women are related to earlier Florentine busts but are even more idealized. All share certain physical characteristics - frontality, rounded faces with high cheek-bones and eyes with heavy lids - which reflect an unrelenting abstraction based on geometric forms that keep individual traits to a minimum.

The portrait of Battista Sforza, the wife of Federico da Montefeltro, is identified by an inscription on the base; her features are also recorded in the profile painting by Piero della Francesca. The bust may have been posthumous (she died in 1472 in childbirth) and modelled on a death-mask.

The Dalmatian Laurana was an international sculptor. He worked in Naples, in France, in Sicily and finally until his death in France. His stylized and hypnotically ethereal portraits of women are related to earlier Florentine busts but are even more idealized. All share certain physical characteristics - frontality, rounded faces with high cheek-bones and eyes with heavy lids - which reflect an unrelenting abstraction based on geometric forms that keep individual traits to a minimum.

The portrait of Battista Sforza, the wife of Federico da Montefeltro, is identified by an inscription on the base; her features are also recorded in the profile painting by Piero della Francesca. The bust may have been posthumous (she died in 1472 in childbirth) and modelled on a death-mask.

Far fewer male portraits are attributed to Laurana than portrait busts of women, possibly because the men are more varied and less easily recognized. Laurana’s male heads are strongly characterized, even idiosyncratic. The surviving nine female busts are far more consistent in type and style. These include two named by inscriptions (one being the Frick’s Beatrice of Aragon), several tentatively identified through comparison with other portraits, and at least two others known to be idealized, posthumous commemorations. Because they are so similar and so abstract, it is difficult to judge from the works themselves how closely they approximate a living likeness.

The inscription identifies the sitter of the present bust as Beatrice of Aragon (1457-1508). She was the daughter of the king of Naples Ferrante I of Aragon and Isabella of Chiaramonte. She received an exceptional education. Following various failed marriage negotiations, Ferrante successfully contracted Beatrice’s engagement to Matthias Corvinus, king of Hungary (1443-1490) in 1474. On September 15, 1476, Beatrice was married by proxy to Corvinus and ceremonially crowned in the church of Incoronata, Naples. The official coronation took place in Sz�kesfeh�rv�r, Hungary, on December 12, 1476, with Corvinus’s blessing. The court historian Antonio Bonfiini recounted the pomp and spectacle of the extravagant banquets, jousting tournaments, and other festivities held in honour of the royal couple in the subsequent days.

Eleanor of Aragon (1450-1493) was the daughter of king Ferrante I of Aragon (Ferdinand I of Naples) and Isabella of Taranto. In 1473 she married Ercole I d’Este, Duke of Ferrara and became the first Duchess of Ferrara.

This work is considered to be the epitome of Renaissance-era Sicilian sculpture.

Laurana is best known for his female portrait busts, but these pose the greatest problem of attribution. None of them is documented, signed or dated. The busts of only two sitters can be positively identified by their inscriptions, those of Battista Sforza (Florence, Bargello) and Beatrice of Aragon (New York, Frick). The latter was probably executed in Naples before 1476, before the Princess’s marriage to Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary, and her departure for Hungary. The chronology and identification of the other busts are as yet unproven, and little is known about their function and original location.

The Dalmatian Francesco Laurana was one of the great traveling artists of the Italian Early Renaissance. He probably created this bust during his third stay in Naples. It represents either Ippolita Maria Sforza, the wife of King Alfonso II of Naples, or her daughter Isabella, who married Gian Galeazzo Sforza, Duke of Milan in 1489. Laurana formed the bust in a highly abstract way in simple, smooth spherical shapes and then breathed life into it with coloured wax. Even the red flowers in the network of the gold bonnet are modeled from wax, while a real jewel needs to be added over the graceful lady’s forehead. None of the other portraits of Laurana has the polychrome finish.

Laurana is best known for his female portrait busts, but these pose the greatest problem of attribution. None of them is documented, signed or dated. The busts of only two sitters can be positively identified by their inscriptions, those of Battista Sforza (Florence, Bargello) and Beatrice of Aragon (New York, Frick). The latter was probably executed in Naples before 1476, before the Princess’s marriage to Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary, and her departure for Hungary. The chronology and identification of the other busts are as yet unproven, and little is known about their function and original location.

The Dalmatian Francesco Laurana was one of the great traveling artists of the Italian Early Renaissance. He probably created this bust during his third stay in Naples. It represents either Ippolita Maria Sforza, the wife of King Alfonso II of Naples, or her daughter Isabella, who married Gian Galeazzo Sforza, Duke of Milan in 1489. Laurana formed the bust in a highly abstract way in simple, smooth spherical shapes and then breathed life into it with coloured wax. Even the red flowers in the network of the gold bonnet are modeled from wax, while a real jewel needs to be added over the graceful lady’s forehead. None of the other portraits of Laurana has the polychrome finish.

Laurana is best known for his female portrait busts, but these pose the greatest problem of attribution. None of them is documented, signed or dated. The busts of only two sitters can be positively identified by their inscriptions, those of Battista Sforza (Florence, Bargello) and Beatrice of Aragon (New York, Frick). The latter was probably executed in Naples before 1476, before the Princess’s marriage to Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary, and her departure for Hungary. The chronology and identification of the other busts are as yet unproven, and little is known about their function and original location.

The bust in the Louvre is usually identified as a posthumous portrait of Infant Eleonora of Aragon, on the basis of the funerary portrait now housed by the Galleria Nazionale della Sicilia at Palermo.

The marble reredo (partition wall behind the altar) in the Chapel of Notre-Dame de Compassion, containing the relief of Carrying the Cross, was commissioned by King Ren� of Anjou for the main altar of the Celestines convent. It was sold during the Revolution and then bought in 1801 by the collegiate churchwardens.

Laurana took up the commission in 1478 and, according to the inscription, the work was erected in 1481. It is sculpted in bas-relief for the background and in high-relief for the figures. Some parts of the relief, which is partially polychromed, reveal a rather crude realism.

The marble reredo (partition wall behind the altar) in the Chapel of Notre-Dame de Compassion, containing the relief of Carrying the Cross, was commissioned by King Ren� of Anjou for the main altar of the Celestines convent. It was sold during the Revolution and then bought in 1801 by the collegiate churchwardens.

Laurana took up the commission in 1478 and, according to the inscription, the work was erected in 1481. It is sculpted in bas-relief for the background and in high-relief for the figures. Some parts of the relief, which is partially polychromed, reveal a rather crude realism.

On 2 June 1468 Laurana and Pietro de Bonitate (active 1468-1495) were commissioned by Antonio Mastrantonio to work on his family chapel in San Francesco d’Assisi, Palermo, for which they provided a statue of the Virgin and Child and the figural decoration of the entrance arch (in situ).

There is evidence that Laurana was in Sicily from May 1468 until September 1471, but he may have arrived earlier and left later. Laurana was last mentioned in Palermo on 28 September 1471, but he seems to have stayed on the east coast of Sicily that year.

The sculpture, which on the base bears the inscription “Sancta Maria dela Gratia de Palazu”, the relief with the Dormitio Virginis, the shield of the Alagones and another, still unidentified, with a lion, was probably commissioned by the Alagona family to the church of Santa Maria della Grazia and after its destruction moved to its present location.

There is evidence that Laurana was in Sicily from May 1468 until September 1471, but he may have arrived earlier and left later. Laurana was last mentioned in Palermo on 28 September 1471, but he seems to have stayed on the east coast of Sicily that year.

The sculpture, which on the base bears the inscription “Sancta Maria dela Gratia de Palazu”, the relief with the Dormitio Virginis, the shield of the Alagones and another, still unidentified, with a lion, was probably commissioned by the Alagona family to the church of Santa Maria della Grazia and after its destruction moved to its present location.

The sculpture, which on the base bears the inscription “Sancta Maria dela Gratia de Palazu”, the relief with the Dormitio Virginis, the shield of the Alagones and another, still unidentified, with a lion, was probably commissioned by the Alagona family to the church of Santa Maria della Grazia and after its destruction moved to its present location.

The detail shows the base of the sculpture.

This mask belongs to a group of marble female masks which appear to have southern French origin. The attribution and function of the particular masks remain controversial.

The Dalmatian-born sculptor was active in Naples, Sicily and France. Ten known female masks with downcast eyes were probably produced by him and his shop in southern France about 1475. All have a similarity to portrait busts by him but the function of the masks remains controversial. Some argue that they were made for tomb effigies, others that they formed a wall decoration.

From 1461 to 1466 Laurana worked in Provence, largely in Marseille. During this period he made medals for Ren� I, Duke of Anjou, and his circle. The designs of the medals, which show a familiarity with those from the circles of Pisanello and Matteo de’ Pasti, combine Late Gothic elements with Classical motifs based on Roman medals.

The obverse of the medal shows Jean d’Anjou, Duke of Calabria and Lorraine (1427–1470). The inscription in margin: IOHANES DVX CALABER ET LOTHORINGVS SIOVLI · REGIS PRIMOGENITVS

The inscription in margin: MARTE FEROX · RECTI CVLTOR CALLVSO REGALIS; on field: · M · CCCC · /–/ · LXIIII ·

It is documented that in 1477 Laurana worked in Tarascon. The monument of Jean de Cossa (died 1476), located in the ancient crypt of the church of Sainte-Marthe, is attributed to Laurana. The monument is a rather ruined state.

This bust with a French provenance is not securely identified. As the bust was discovered in Marseille, the work may date from after Laurana’s return to France in 1477, and the sitter might be French. It is carved in one piece and has a deep hollow, projecting base with a tablet for an inscription. The sitter most often has been identified as Ippolita Maria Sforza, who married Alfonso, Duke of Calabria in 1465.

This bust with a French provenance is not securely identified. As the bust was discovered in Marseille, the work may date from after Laurana’s return to France in 1477, and the sitter might be French. It is carved in one piece and has a deep hollow, projecting base with a tablet for an inscription. The sitter most often has been identified as Ippolita Maria Sforza, who married Alfonso, Duke of Calabria in 1465.

On 2 June 1468 Laurana and Pietro de Bonitate (active 1468-1495) were commissioned by Antonio Mastrantonio to work on his family chapel in San Francesco d’Assisi, Palermo, for which they provided a statue of the Virgin and Child and the figural decoration of the entrance arch (in situ), and a tomb (untraced).

The picture shows one of the reliefs decorating the entrance arch.

The complexity of the gateway to Castelnuovo is explained by its tripartite function: a triumphal monument, a castle gate and a cenotaph. It consists of two superimposed arches in six registers, between two towers of the castle, combined Roman triumphal and funerary imagery with Christian elements and historical and heraldic devices of Alfonso I (Alfonso V of Spain who moved his court to Naples). No one artist was responsible for all of it: documents records Laurana working with Pietro da Milano, Paolo Romano and at least thirty-three assistants.

Laurana was among the sculptors engaged to work on the completion of the Triumphal Arch at Castel Nuovo. While he can no longer be said to have had any part in its design, Laurana made considerable contributions to the sculptures on the arch.

Inside the triumphal arch are two reliefs showing the king and his court departing for and returning from a victorious exploit. The picture shows one of the reliefs.

In 1458 Laurana was among the sculptors engaged to work on the completion of the Triumphal Arch at Castel Nuovo. While he can no longer be said to have had any part in its design, Laurana made considerable contributions to the sculptures on the arch. The seated Virgin and Child in Sant’Agostino della Zecca, Naples, may date from this time. The statue is now deposited to Castel Nuovo by Sant’Agostino alla Zecca.

In 1474 Laurana was back in Naples; it is not known how long he stayed. The Virgin and Child in Santa Maria Mater Domini, Naples, is attributed to him and may date from this period.

The design of the fa�ade of Santa Maria Materdomini is attributed to the architect Giovanni Francesco di Palma. It has a simple entrance portal surmounted by a niche in which was placed the statue of the Virgin and Child by Francesco Laurana. The statue is currently placed on the high altar.

In 1474 Laurana was back in Naples; it is not known how long he stayed, but on 26 March that year he was paid for the statue of the Virgin and Child above the portal of the chapel of Santa Barbara in the Castel Nuovo in Naples. The figure follows the Sicilian Madonnas in type and style.