Astorgio Manfredi
Mino da Fiesole1455
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
Washington, DC, United States
This work represents one of the first independent portrait busts made in Europe since antiquity, reflecting Mino da Fiesole's reinvention of the portrait bust as an artistic type, first in Florence and then elsewhere.
A Latin inscription carved on the underside identifies the subject and artist: "Astorgio Manfredi II, lord of Faenza, 42 years old, 1455, the work of Nino." Astorgio by this time had been ruler of Faenza for seven years and a military commander for almost 25. He is immortalized with starkly unidealized realism, his power conveyed by a brocaded mantle over field armor consisting of a chain mail shirt and metal breast plate fastened with a worn leather strap.
- Title: Astorgio Manfredi
- Creator: Mino da Fiesole
- Date Created: 1455
- Physical Dimensions: overall: 51.5 x 54.2 x 27.7 cm (20 1/4 x 21 5/16 x 10 7/8 in.)
- Provenance: Louis-Charles Timbal [1821-1880], Paris.[1] Baron Arthur de Schickler [1828-1919], Paris, and Martinvast, Normandy (near Cherbourg); by inheritance to his daughter, Marguerite, Comtesse Hubert de Pourtalès [1870-1956], Paris, and Martinvast, Normandy; sold April 1919 to (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London, New York, and Paris) in part-share agreement with (Wildenstein & Co., Inc., New York) and (Arnold Seligmann & Co., Paris);[2] inheritance from Estate of Peter A.B. Widener by gift through power of appointment of Joseph E. Widener, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, after purchase 13 January 1922 by funds of the Estate;[3] gift 1942 to NGA. [1] _Duveen Sculpture in Public Collections of America_, New York, 1944: no. 108, repro. [2] The Baron's daughter married Comte Hubert de Pourtalès in 1890, and was her father's sole heiress. Edward Fowles (_Memories of Duveen Brothers_, London, 1976: 102-103, 134) discusses the original purchase agreement with Wildenstein and Seligmann, and the subsequent 1922 distribution of the works among the three dealers. [3] Provenance according to Widener card files in NGA curatorial records.
- Rights: CC0
- Medium: marble
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