VERROCCHIO. vis-r6f1:11-6, ANDREA DEL (1435 88). A celebrated Florentine sculptor, painter and goldsmith. his father, Michele di Cione, having died while the lad was young, Andrea assumed the name of the goldsmith Giuliano de' Verrocchio, to whom he was apprenticed. From this training he acquired his mastery of the technique of bronze casting and the high finish of his plastic productions. The only surviving ex ample of his goldsmith work is a relief in silver of the "Beheading of John the Baptist," in the Cathedral Museum at Florence. In sculpture his real master was Donatello, if indeed he did not actually study under him. One of his earliest works was the completion of that mas ter's charming marble fountain in the Sacristy of San Lorenzo.
The most important of Verrocchio's commis sions in Florence were for the Medici. In San Lorenzo he designed the bronze sepulchral slab of Cosinto de' 'Medici (d. 1464). and carved the beautiful marble tomb of Giovanni and Piero, a decorative masterpiece of most original con ception. finished in 1472. Fur Lorenzo the Alag nificent he also designed a bronze statue of the "Youthful David" (1476, Museo Nazionale), an admirable rendering of the transition of the human figure front youth to manhood, us natural istic as it is graceful in position and form. His "Boy with a Fish." a charming fountain-piece, still adorns the court of the Palazzo Vecehio. The marble group of the "Incredulity of Thomas."
in Orsanmichele, Florence, survives as one of the finest of the Renaissance, both in technical execution and in the beauty and majesty of the figures. His last work, the equestrian statue of "Bartolommeo Colleoni," at Venice, is his most celebrated. In this the martial bearing of the rider is as admirable as the anatomical perfection of the striding steed. Upon his death in 1488, he had completed the model of horse and rider, which were cast somewhat later by Alessandro Leopardi. who also designed the pedestal.
In painting he is more famous through his pupils Leonardo da Vinci and Lorenzo di Credi, than for his own achievements. There is much dispute over the pictures to be assigned to him. The "Baptism of Christ" (Florentine Acadenty). in which Leonardo assisted, is one of the few certain attributions. His figures are well modeled. but somewhat still in action and hard in color. He was. however. an innovator in that lie was the first Florentine to render atmospheric perspective. Of the nu merous drawings attributed to him the "Angel's head." in the Uffizi, and a "Female Head," in the British 'Museum, are the most celebrated.
Consult: Maekowsky, Vcrrocchio (Bielefeld, 1901) : and Bode, Italienisehe Bildhauer der Re vaissance (Berlin. 1887) ; also Perkins, Tuscan Sculptors (London, 1864).