Wilhelm R. Valentiner, Renaissance sculpture and the problems of connoisseurship

Marco M. Mascolo
The essay examines the article published in 1958 by Wilhelm Reinhold Valentiner (1880-1958) dedicated to sculpture in Rome during the Renaissance. From Valentiner's article originated the so-called 'Master of Pius II', i.e. a Florentine sculptor active under and close to Paolo Romano in Rome. Through an analysis of this work it is possible to grasp certain elements typical of the practice of 20th-century connoisseurship, such as the creation of catalogues of congruent works whose authors cannot be identified as historical figures. Thanks to an approach that was typical of this practice, Valentiner, through his 'Master of Pius II', was thus able to define not only the artistic career of the anonymous sculptor, but also the stylistic guidelines of sculpture in Rome in the second half of the 15th century.
published in
PROSPETTIVA - 181-182 (January-April 2021)

Italiano
pp. 187-194
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Index

Carl Brandon Strehlke Looking for Giotto
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Francesco Aceto Between Giotto and Simone Martini. A rare painted portal with 'Stories of the Passion' in Naples cathedral and its topographical and liturgical context
read abstract » pp. 13-22
Victor M. Schmidt A proposal for Ambrogio Lorenzetti's panel paintings from the church of San Procolo in Florence
read abstract » pp. 23-30
Keith Christiansen The architecture in a Bohemian panel of the Metropolitan Museum of Art
read abstract » pp. 31-35
Gabriele Fattorini On the 'Annunciation' of the Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum by Jacopo della Quercia
read abstract » pp. 36-46
Francesco Caglioti Desiderio da Settignano the portraitist: “una testa del Chardinale di Portoghallo”, or the 'Saint Lawrence' in the Old Sacristy of San Lorenzo in Florence
read abstract » pp. 47-59
Alessandro Angelini Francesco di Giorgio in Urbino and the iconography of the 'Flagellation'
read abstract » pp. 60-68
Gianluca Amato Benedetto da Maiano: two proposals for the catalogue of terracottas
read abstract » pp. 69-77
Antonio Mazzotta Evidence pointing to the identity of the 'Master of the Sforza Altarpiece'
read abstract » pp. 78-85
Roberto Bartalini Raphael and Sodoma in the Stanza della Segnatura. New findings
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Giovanni Agosti e Jacopo Stoppa Doxiana
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Michele Maccherini Three papers on Beccafumi
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Rosanna De Gennaro About the little-known opisthographic marble altarpiece of the abbey of Montevergine
read abstract » pp. 122-131
Elisabetta Cioni Notes on the 17th-century reliquary of the right arm of Saint John the Baptist of Siena cathedral
read abstract » pp. 132-142
Tomaso Montanari Bernini's caricatures: spirit without corpus?
read abstract » pp. 143-147
Gennaro Toscano The popularity of Dante in France in the early 19th century. Aubin-Louis Millin and ms. XIII.C.4 of the Biblioteca Nazionale in Naples
read abstract » pp. 148-159
Federica Testa Paolo Lombardi, photographer: portrait of an art dealer
read abstract » pp. 160-167
Laura Cavazzini Alceo Dossena and the forgery of Gothic sculpture between Lombardy and Tuscany
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Luca Quattrocchi Italian art for National Socialism. Antonio Maraini and the Ausstellung Italienischer Kunst von 1800 bis zur Gegenwart exhibition in Berlin in 1937
read abstract » pp. 177-186
Marco M. Mascolo Wilhelm R. Valentiner, Renaissance sculpture and the problems of connoisseurship
read abstract » pp. 187-194