Skip to content
Home/ Raffaele Riario, Jacopo Galli, and Michelangelo's Bacchus, 1471-1572
Raffaele Riario, Jacopo Galli, and Michelangelo's Bacchus, 1471-1572

Raffaele Riario, Jacopo Galli, and Michelangelo's Bacchus, 1471-1572

No customer reviews yet ISBN 9781915487117

On Michelangelo's first day in Rome, in June 1496, Cardinal Raffaele Riario asked him if he could create 'something beautiful' in competition with the antique. The twenty-one-year old sculptor responded to this unique challenge with the statue of Bacchus now in the Bargello museum. This statue, as well as the Sleeping Cupid which first brought Michelangelo to Riario's attention, have long been shrouded in mystery, and the Bacchus as well as its patron have long suffered from critical censure. Through a comprehensive analysis of overlooked and previously-unpublished sources, this study sheds new light on the Sleeping Cupid, the Bacchus, and a fascinating period in the history of Renaissance Rome when the careers of Riario, Galli, and Michelangelo were closely intertwined. It considers the rise of the Riario dynasty starting with the election of Pope Sixtus IV in 1471, Riario's partnership with Jacopo Galli in the reconstruction of the palace now known as the Palazzo della Cancelleria, the attempted sale of Michelangelo's Sleeping Cupid in Rome as an antiquity, Riario's patronage of the Bacchus, and the Bacchus's display in the house of the Galli up until its sale to the Medici in 1572. Taking a broad, interdisciplinary perspective, it offers a fundamental reassessment of Cardinal Riario's career as a patron, of Jacopo Galli's role as an intermediary for both Riario and Michelangelo, and of Michelangelo's collaboration with Riario and Galli.

About the author

Product details

Pub dateSep 30, 2025
ISBN-101915487110
ISBN-139781915487117
LanguageEnglish
Last updated 2026-09-02 06:00
$144.68
In stock soon — order now to reserve your copy
Delivery by Thursday, October 15, 2026
Qty
Sign in to Add to Saved list
Free delivery on orders over $35.
15-day returns. Any reason.
Secure checkout. We never store card details.

Readers who bought this also bought

More from History - Renaissance
See all
Painting in Britain 1500-1630: Production, Influences and Patronage
<p>This book is the first major essay volume in over a decade to focus on Tudor and Jacobean painting. Its interdisciplinary approach reflects the dynamic state of research in the field, utilising a range of methodologies in order to answer key art historical questions about the production and consumption of art in Britain in the 16th and early 17th century. <br> The introduction sets the tone for the interdisciplinary approach that is taken throughout the volume .It brings together a discussion of the context for the production of painted images in Tudor and Jacobean England with a selection of technical images of twenty paintings that span the period and demonstrate the information that can be gained from material analysis of paintings.<br> In further chapters, leading exponents of painting conservation and conservation science discuss the material practices of the period, using and explaining a range of analytical techniques, such as infrared reflectography and dendochronology. Questions of authorship and aspects of workshop practice are also discussed. As well as looking at specific artists and their studios, the authors take a broader view in order to capture information about the range of artistic production during the period, stretching from the production of medieval rood screens to the position of heraldic painters. The final section of the book addresses artistic patronage, from the commissioning of works by kings and courtiers, to the regional networks that developed during the period and the influence of a developing antiquarianism on the market for paintings.<br> The book is lavishly illustrated in colour throughout, with reproductions of whole paintings and many details selected to amplify the text. It will be an essential source for those working in the fields of art history, conservation and material science, and of interest to lovers of British Tudor and Stuart painting.</p>
$289.05