Date : 1455
Dimensions : 54 cm x 52 cm x 28 cm
Material : Marble
Acquisition : Widener Collection (1942)
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Italian Sculpture
Sculpture (Buste)
Area related
Florence (Italy)
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| Description |  |
Astorgio Manfredi was a condottiere, or mercenary captain, who offered his services and those of his army to warring Italian city-states. He was governor of Faenza in 1455 when he commissioned the twenty-five-year-old Mino to carve his portrait, perhaps inspired by busts that the artist had made two years earlier for his Florentine ally Piero de'Medici.
An inscription on the underside of the work—one of the earliest to be found on a Renaissance portrait bust—identifies the sitter, artist, and date of completion: ASTORGIVS. MANFREDVS. SECVNDVS. FAVENTIE. DOMINVS./ ANNO. XLII. ETATIS SVE./ 1455./ OPVS. NINI. ("Astorgio II Manfredi, Lord of Faenza, in the 42nd year of his age, 1455, the work of Nino") The spelling here of Mino's name as Nino is unexplained.
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