Andrea del
Verrocchio

Andrea del Verrocchio specialized in sculpture, but at times turned to painting. He raised such geniuses of the Renaissance as Leonardo, Pietro Perugino and Sandro Botticelli. Verrocchio was known as the unsurpassed decorator and director of court festivals. The artist was born and worked for a long time in Florence. In 1465 he created the tombstone of Cosimo de Medici, from 1463 to 1487 he worked on the sculptural composition “Assurance of Thomas”, in 1476 he created the statue of David. In 1482, Verrocchio went to Venice to work on the equestrian statue of condotier Bartolomeo Colleoni. The artist died there in 1488, without completing the statue that was begun.

Italian sculptor, painter and jeweler of the Early Renaissance. Actually, Andrea di Michele Cioni. Born in Florence. He studied with the jeweler Verrocchio (whose name he inherited), A. Baldovinetti and other masters, was influenced by Desiderio da Settignano and A. Pollaiolo. The fall in demand for jewelry prompted Andrea del Verocchio to turn to decorative carving (one of the artist's first works in this area was decorating the chapel of the cathedral in Orvieto in 1461) and tempera painting.

In 1465, Andrea del Verocchio created the tombstone of Cosimo Medici, from the mid-1460s he worked on the sculptural composition “Assurance of Thomas”. From 1467 Verrocchio fulfilled the orders of the Medici, rulers of Florence. In Verrocchio's work, the realistic trends that developed in the Florentine school of the 15th century were combined with aristocratic sophistication and refined decorativeism of forms, the anatomical accuracy and thoroughness of modeling - with the sharp and graceful angularity of the lines. Verrocchio - author of tombstones (Giovanni and Piero Medici, bronze, colored marble, porphyry, 1412, Old Sacristy of the Church of San Lorenzo, Florence), statues (“David”, bronze, 1473-1475, National Museum, Florence), horse monuments ( Monument to Condottiere B. Colleoni on Piazza Santi Giovanni e Paolo in Venice, bronze, 1479-1488, cast in 1490), accurate in characterization of sculptural portraits (bust of Giuliano Medici, terracotta, National Gallery of Art, Washington). Verrocchio’s few pictorial works are distinguished by their sharpness and accuracy of the drawing, sculptural modeling of forms (“Madonna”, circa 1470, Picture Gallery, Berlin-Dahlem). Verrocchio was a teacher of many Italian artists - Leonardo da Vinci, Perugino and others.

In 1476, Andrea del Verocchio created the statue of David. This graceful bronze statue has become a symbol of the humanistic Renaissance culture. It was intended for the Medici villa, but in 1576 Lorenzo and Giuliano transferred it to the Signoria Palace in Florence.

One of the students in the workshop of Verocchier was the young Leonardo da Vinci. Although Verrocchio may have trusted the young Leonardo to draw some minor details in his earlier works, it was most likely in the Baptism of Christ that he first allowed Leonardo to draw a full figure. A little blue-clad angel essentially informed Florence of the birth of a genius in Italian art, and perhaps in the history of mankind.

In 1482, Verrocchio went to Venice to work on the equestrian statue of condotier Bartolomeo Colleoni. The artist died there in 1488, without completing the sculptural work that had begun.