This elegant exhibition catalog includes sixty-six works of art by this virtuoso sculptor, plus accompanying essays. Born in The Hague, Adriaen de Vries worked with the official sculptor to the Medici dukes beginning in 1580s, and in 1601 he was appointed official court sculptor to Rudolf II in Prague, where he worked until his death. Some of his best-known works are illustrated and described in this comprehensive volume, including the Bust of Emperor Rudolph II, the fountain Mercury and Cupid, Psyche Born Aloft by Putti, Juggling Man and The Wrestlers.

This elegant exhibition catalog includes sixty-six works of art by this virtuoso sculptor, plus accompanying essays. Born in The Hague, Adriaen de Vries worked with the official sculptor to the Medici dukes beginning in 1580s, and in 1601 he was appointed official court sculptor to Rudolf II in Prague, where he worked until his death. Some of his best-known works are illustrated and described in this comprehensive volume, including the Bust of Emperor Rudolph II, the fountain Mercury and Cupid, Psyche Born Aloft by Putti, Juggling Man and The Wrestlers.

"A master of composition and technique, De Vries was relatively unknown until the J. Paul Getty Museum's groundbreaking 1999 exhibition, Adriaen de Vries: Imperial Sculptor, which firmly established the artist's reputation and afforded a rare opportunity to study in depth a large group of bronzes. This heavily illustrated volume presents the results of the technical study of twenty-five bronzes from the exhibition. Introductory chapters provide background on the artist and technical methodologies. Subsequent chapters present case studies of individual statues, revealing the methods and materials used in their creation"--Publisher's website.

The late Renaissance sculptor Leone Leoni (1509-1590) came from modest beginnings, but died as a nobleman and knight. His remarkable leap in status from his humble birth to a stonemason's family, to his time as a galley slave, to living as a nobleman and courtier in Milan provide a specific case study of an artist's struggle and triumph over existing social structures that marginalized the Renaissance artist. Based on a wealth of discoveries in archival documents, correspondence, and contemporary literature, the author examines the strategies Leoni employed to achieve his high social position, such as the friendships he formed, the type of education he sought out, the artistic imagery he employed, and the aristocratic trappings he donned. Leoni's multiple roles (imperial sculptor, aristocrat, man of erudition, and criminal), the visual manifestations of these roles in his house, collection, and tomb, the form and meaning of the artistic commissions he undertook, and the particular successes he enjoyed are here situated within the complex political, social and economic contexts of northern Italy and the Spanish court in the sixteenth century.

In this first in-depth study dedicated to the intriguing history of the translation of statues and reliefs into print, the essays in this volume reflect the printmakers’ various approaches and challenges of translating antique or contemporary artworks, underlining their highly creative handling.