Issue 1
Nóra Nagy
The ancestry and the "genus grande" of Johann Gregor van der Schardt's statues of Mercury
31–43
URN: urn:nbn:hu-73826
URL: http://aria.elte.hu/index.php?p1=art&p2=1_4_Nagy
Published: 2/18/2010
Fulltext: PDF
At present four similar bronzes of Mercury are attributed to Johann Gregor van der Schardt. Hitherto no other composition of the artist has been identified of which he would have prepared more than one copy, therefore special significance can be ascribed to this instance. Most scholars associate the style of Schardt with Italian sculpture. The Nederlandish artist lived in Italy in the 1560's, nevertheless, he set up his own workshop only at a later date in Nuremberg. The article makes the point that Schardt used the figure of Adam from Dürer's engraving Adam and Eve as a model, and the éclat of the composition was based on the Mannerist reinterpretation of the latter. The article concludes by placing this reception of Dürer's work in the context of late 16th century Dürer Renaissance: Dürer, as a representative of the highest, sublime style defined in rhetorical theory, could have provided an adequate exemplar for the depiction of Mercury, a personification of eloquence.
Recommended citation: Nagy, Nóra: "Előképválasztás és "genus grande" Johann Gregor van der Schardt Mercurius-figuráin", in: Aria 1 (2010), 31–43; URL: <http://aria.elte.hu/index.php?p1=art&p2=1_4_Nagy> [last visit: 4/17/2024].