Donatello | The bronze David, 1440

David is the title of two statues of the biblical hero by the Italian early Renaissance* sculptor Donatello*, an early work in marble of a clothed figure (1408-09)*, and a far more famous bronze figure and dates to the 1430s or later. Both are now in the Museo Nazionale del Bargello in Florence.

Benvenuto Cellini | Saliera or Salt Cellar, 1540-1543

The Cellini Salt Cellar (in Vienna called the Saliera, Italian for salt cellar) is a part-enamelled gold table sculpture by Benvenuto Cellini. It was completed in 1543 for Francis I of France, from models that had been prepared many years earlier for Cardinal Ippolito d'Este. The Cellini Salt Cellar depicts a male figure representing the sea and a female figure that represents the earth. A small vessel meant to hold salt is placed next to the male figure. A temple-shaped box for pepper is placed next to the female figure.

Francesco Primaticcio | Ulysses and Penelope, 1563

Francesco Primaticcio, also called Bologna, Le Primatice, or Primadizzi (born April 30, 1504, Bologna, Emilia [Italy]-died 1570, Paris, France), Italian Mannerist painter, architect, sculptor and leader of the first school of Fontainebleau.

Primaticcio was first trained as an artist in Bologna, under Innocenzo da Imola and later Bagnacavallo.

He also studied with Giulio Romano and assisted him in his work on the decorations of the Palazzo del Te in Mantua.

Daniele da Volterra | Unfinished portrait of Michelangelo, 1544

Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564)🎨

Artist: Daniele da Volterra (Daniele Ricciarelli🎨) (Italian painter🎨, Volterra 1509–1566 Rome)

Date: probably ca. 1544

Medium: Oil on wood

Dimensions: 34 3/4 x 25 1/4 in. (88.3 x 64.1 cm)

Classification: Paintings

Credit Line: Gift of Clarence Dillon, 1977

Accession Number: 1977.384.1

Daniele da Volterra | Mannerist style painter / sculptor

Daniele da Volterra - Presentation of the Virgin

Daniele Ricciarelli da Volterra (1509-1566) was born in Volterra, a town in Tuscany, the painter and sculpture became known as Daniele da Volterra. He was a mannerist artist best remembered for his work in connection to Michelangelo (1475-1564).

Before befriending Michelangelo, Volterra studied in Siena with Giovanna Antonio Bazzi, called Il Sodoma (1477-1549) and Baldassare Peruzzi (1481-1537), and then with Piero Buonaccorsi, called Perin del Vaga (1501-1547). During this time he helped to complete works in the Palazzo Massimo alle Colonne in Rome, as well as in the Trinitá dei Monti and the San Marcello al Corso.

Volterra’s commission for the Orsini Chapel in the Trinitá dei Monti, were frescos he did based on drawings by Michelangelo.