MADERNO, Stefano

This terracotta statue is a reproduction of the Farnese Hercules, a Greek bronze statue by Lysippos (4th century BC), known from an enlarged Roman copy from c. 216 AD.

This unbaked clay group depicts Hercules and Antaeus. Hercules stands knotting his arms around the lifted Antaeus, who clutches at his face and shoulder and grips him with his right leg. It is on an oblong base with a tree stump support.

Comparatively few works in unfired clay survive because they are fragile and easily damaged. This group is unfired but has been coated. It has been damaged, but it is unusual for such a large unfired object to survive at all.

Perhaps Maderno’s most important and characteristic works are his small terracotta models, bronzes and marbles derived, with varying degrees of freedom, from antique models and from works by Michelangelo and Giambologna. His signed and dated terracotta model of the Farnese Hercules (h. 525 mm, 1617; Oxford, Ashmolean) and the bronze variant in Vienna, Hofburg-Schauräume, are, except for the overdeveloped musculature, faithful reproductions of the famous ancient statue. More inventive is his series of signed and dated terracottas representing the Labours of Hercules (Venice, Ca’ d’Oro): Hercules and the Nemean Lion (1621), Hercules and Cacus (1621) and Hercules and Antaeus (1622). These works, created all’antica but not dependent on specific ancient models, combine strong naturalism and studied classicism in dynamic compositions. These terracottas, as well as others in St Petersburg (Hermitage), were certainly created as independent objects for collectors.

Perhaps Maderno’s most important and characteristic works are his small terracotta models, bronzes and marbles derived, with varying degrees of freedom, from antique models and from works by Michelangelo and Giambologna. His signed and dated terracotta model of the Farnese Hercules (h. 525 mm, 1617; Oxford, Ashmolean) and the bronze variant in Vienna, Hofburg-Schauräume, are, except for the overdeveloped musculature, faithful reproductions of the famous ancient statue. More inventive is his series of signed and dated terracottas representing the Labours of Hercules (Venice, Ca’ d’Oro): Hercules and the Nemean Lion (1621), Hercules and Cacus (1621) and Hercules and Antaeus (1622). These works, created all’antica but not dependent on specific ancient models, combine strong naturalism and studied classicism in dynamic compositions. These terracottas, as well as others in St Petersburg (Hermitage), were certainly created as independent objects for collectors.

This statue is a variant of an antique Greek statue by Lysippos (4th century BC), known from a Roman copy (2nd century AD). It depicts Hercules holding his infant son Telephus in his arms. In myth, Telephus was exposed by his mother in the wilds and suckled by a deer.

In this work one can see a remembrance of Michelangelo’s last Pietà, the Pietà Rondanini.

Among Maderno’s monumental sculptures for Roman churches are his reclining figures of Peace and Justice (1614), which crown the pediment of the high altar in Santa Maria della Pace. These allegorical statues demonstrate the sculptor’s debt to both Classical antiquity and contemporary trends in painting, such as the work of Domenichino. According to Baglione, they so pleased their patron, Gaspare Rivaldi, that he bestowed on the sculptor a position in the customs office at the Port of Ripetta in Rome. Baglione’s assertion, however, that Maderno’s career as a sculptor came to a halt after receiving this position is unfounded. Documented works of 1624, 1628–29 and 1636 prove that he remained active as a sculptor for the rest of his life.

Stefano Maderno is best known for his marble statue of St Cecilia (1600) at the high altar of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, Rome. This work, which established Maderno’s reputation, was commissioned by Cardinal Paolo Emilio Sfondrato, the titular cardinal of the church, who had undertaken extensive excavations of the building in the hope of finding the remains of St Cecilia. The discovery of her supposed entire and uncorrupt body on 20 October 1599 under the main altar was a momentous occasion in Rome, especially within the context of the Counter-Reformation. Sfondrato commissioned Maderno to reconstruct the altar and to carve, as its centrepiece, a statue of the recumbent saint.

Maderno depicted St Cecilia precisely the way Antonio Bosio described her at the moment of discovery: uncorrupt, lying on her side, clad in a dress, with her veiled head turned towards the ground. This gave rise to the assumption, fostered by Baglione and other writers, that the statue was based on direct study of the corpse. It is now generally recognized, however, that the statue is an ingenious invention of Maderno, indebted to ancient sculptures, and based on Bosio’s description of St Cecilia’s body.

The St Cecilia is a mature expression of Maderno’s talent as a sculptor. The statue is a work of classical simplicity and directness in presentation, which presages later developments in Baroque sculpture. It is designed to be seen from a single viewpoint and characterized by an emotive intensity, and a naturalism tempered by idealization that is also evident in contemporary works by Guido Reni in painting and Camillo Mariani in sculpture. The St Cecilia served as the model for a series of Roman Baroque statues of recumbent saints, including the St Martina (1635; Santi Luca e Martina) by Niccolò Menghini, Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s Blessed Ludovica Albertoni (1671-74; San Francesco a Ripa) and the St Sebastian (1671-72; San Sebastiano fuori le Mura) by Giuseppe Giorgetti.

If there is one sculpture among all those produced in Rome at the beginning of the seventeenth century which indicates the direction in which art would go, it is Maderno’s St Cecilia. It was commissioned by Cardinal Paolo Emilio Sfondrato, who had the tomb of the saint opened in 1599. Tradition has it that the finely polished statue represents the position in which St Cecilia’s body was found. Maderno foreshadows many of the poetic impulses that would later flourish in the Baroque age. Maderno aims straight at the beholder’s emotions, directly engaging feeling and igniting emotions in a way that Bernini and Caravaggio were to perfect. The saint’s body seems still warm, while on her neck can be seen the mark of the axe blow that ended her young life in the name of Christ.

The sculpture is a solid and truthful witness (the literal meaning of martyr is witness) of the saint’s faith in God. Maderno came up with the idea of a sculpture that gives the impression that the event has only just occurred, right under the eyes of the incredulous onlooker, who, torn between pity and horror, cannot but be moved.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 3 minutes):

Girolamo Frescobaldi: Ricercar No. 8

The picture shows the statues of Sts Francis Xavier (left) and Carlo Borromeo (right) in the second vestibule of the church San Lorenzo in Damaso.

A possible collaboration between Maderno and Ambrogio Bonvicino can be traced back to the statue depicting San Carlo Borromeo destined for the homonymous chapel (dismantled) in the church of San Lorenzo in Damaso and now placed in the second vestible (right pillar). Granted in 1615 to Canon Cesare Melotti, the chapel was solemnly inaugurated by the Bishop of Salona Cesare Fedele, who was among the witnesses called to testify in favour of the cause of canonization of Borromeo himself in 1610.