Attributed to Andrea di Alessandri, called 'Il Bresciano' 1530-1569?

Avery 1997; Avery 2003, pp. 46-61, figs. 20 and 21(illus.); Ceriana and Avery 2008, p.233 (illus.)

RELATED LITERATURE

Davis 1999; Kryza-Gersch 1999, pp.452-453; Motture 2003, p.279

With the appearance of a pair of autograph andirons on the market in 1996 and with subsequent research by Charles Avery, knowledge of the work of the Brescian bronze-founder Andrea di Alessandri, called Il Bresciano, has been greatly enhanced. The Bute andirons, now in a private collection, are composed of multiple elaborate registers all resting on the backs of sphinxes, and have been associated with the large Paschal candelabrum originally made for the church of S. Spirito on the island of Isola in Venice (now in S.M. della Salute, Venice) signed by Il Bresciano (AND. DIALESSAN.BRES.F) (fig.1).  More recently they have been linked to a letter written to Francesco de' Medici in 1568 describing a pair of firedogs that he considered purchasing.

The present cross shares numerous details with the signed candelabrum, the andirons and also with the Cross of S. Teodora dated 1567, also made by Il Bresciano, now in the Accademia, Venice (fig. 2). The bronze bears the initial 'M' surmounted by a cross or star, perhaps the armorial device of a religious confraternity. The punched panels with oval reserves centered by figures, are also repeated in the S. Teodora Cross, as is the nearly identical pyramidal base with harpies or sphinxes resting on a single lion's paw.  Both of these examples, as well as in a group of candlesticks from S. Teodora, bear the same decorative features including the putti with one arm crossed over their chests, scrolling oval reserves centered with figures, and the punched ground.

Victoria Avery and Dott. Oliviero Franzoni recently discovered documents relating to Il Bresciano  in the Venetian State Archives and in Brescia, respectively. These documents reveal, in part, that the 'di Alessan.' on the signature of the candelabrum in the Salute stands for di Alessandri (Il Bresciano) rather than di Alessandro (which is associated with another artist Andrea di Baruzzi). The documents further illustrate some of Il Bresciano's commissions including that from the monks at Santo Spirito in the 1560s together with his payment in 1565. In that year, he became a member of the Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista, having undoubtedly gained notoriety for his recent work.

This finely worked bronze with its idiosyncratic decoration is exemplary of the fertile atmosphere for ornamental bronze casting  that prospered in Venice during the Cinquecento.