Raphael, Cellini and a renaissance banker: the patronage of Bindo Altoviti: Yasmine Helfer reviews a long awaited exhibition in Boston and Florence, which brings together the portraits of a remarkable patron

Apollo, March, 2004 by Yasmine Helfer

Michelangelo, Raphael, Jacopo Sansovino, Cellini, Salviati, Vasari: what, other than Bindo Altoviti's patronage, could have allowed such a dream team of names in an exhibition? This unprecedented and long-desired project has at last seen the light of day under Alan Chong's direction, based on Donatella Pegazzano's Tesi di Laurea (Florence, 1988). One could hardly hope to commemorate Isabella Stewart Gardner and the centennial of her museum more suitably than through the remembrance of one of her most prestigious renaissance peers. Indeed, the subject offers a rare opportunity to bring together masterpieces and to study an individual's patronage developed over fifty years in almost all art forms, from sculpture to the decorative arts and music.

In Boston, the exhibition was presented in two rooms. An antechamber introduced the topic, providing essential biographical data and commenting on those aspects of Bindo's patronage that would not be further addressed. Visitors then stepped into the main room past Sansovino's terracotta model for St Paul, a reminder of the lost model for St James presented to Bindo by the sculptor. Attention was immediately attracted by Duke Cosimo I's imperious gaze and overwhelming presence: the guest star of the exhibition, Cellini's Bust of Cosimo (Fig. 2) in fact made its first trip over the Atlantic especially to meet that of Bindo: a convincing example of how art can bring peace between fierce enemies and a resounding coup showing the organisers' diplomatic finesse in obtaining spectacular loans. In the cramped room, however, Cosimo remained hostile to Bindo, his bust contrasting by its colossal size and heroic spirit with the sober and thoughtful Bust of Bindo (Fig. 1), an indisputable masterpiece of private portraiture. Not only were both Cellini's bronze busts brought together for the first time ever, but so were the portraits of Bindo by Raphael and Cellini (Fig. 3). The portrait section is enriched with works by Jacopino del Conte and Girolamo da Carpi, (1) hitherto confidentially known: were if not for the absence of the (lost) Portrait of Bindo by Salviati recorded by Vasari, the gallery of documented portraits of the patron would have been complete. Vasari's recently rediscovered Pieta was displayed for the first time in an exhibition, though at a disadvantage due to the close viewing induced by the cramped room, which drew attention to its poor condition rather than to the overall effect. Bindo's religious commissions were further alluded to by an autograph copy on a reduced scale of Vasari's Immaculate, Conception altarpiece, while a set of preparatory drawings recalled the decorations executed by Vasari for Bindo's Roman residences, since destroyed. Finally, a central showcase completed the panorama of the banker's patronage: next to Bindo's medal (Fig. 4) and a maiolica dish bearing his coat-of-arms (Fig. 5), a Libro di ricordi recently discovered by Vanna Arrighi was exhibited, a very valuable document since neither the Altoviti family papers, nor the archives of their bank have yet come to light.

[FIGURES 1-5 OMITTED]

The exhibition is clearly focused on portraits: admittedly they were a prevailing component of the banker's patronage and are attractive to visitors, but their dominating presence is at the same time misleading about the range of Bindo's collection, where religious commissions, far less represented here, were equally fundamental.

The works selected are limited in number but of outstanding quality. Yet, instead of comparative pieces and substitutes for lost works, it would have been helpful to stress the display of the material genuinely related to Bindo. This could have been achieved by showing the medal coined for his mother, which records the family's interest in the medium, or by presenting some of Bindo's antique statues, unexpectedly traced by Pegazzano. Moreover, it would have been an ideal occasion to set Raphael's portrait of Bindo side by side with that often considered to be a portrait of his wife (Musee des Beaux-Arts, Strasbourg), in order to settle the question of their being conceived as companion pieces.

The catalogue presents, on the whole, accurate and stimulating essays from various international scholars. Bullard's essay makes available a conspicuous amount of hitherto unexploited archival data on Bindo's banking and estates; she provides a didactic frame of the financial practices resorted to by Curial bankers. Simoncelli draws up an insightful picture of the Florentine. fuorusciti world and points out the necessarily tricky position of someone who was both a republican partisan and a Medici pope's banker. Zikos provides a valuable survey of the central Italian portrait sculpture tradition as a background for Cellini's achievements in the genre. More disputable is his attempt at reconstructing the circumstances of the making of Bindo's bust and securing its date on the basis of new documentary sources, of which no transcription is supplied. (2) Bindo's bust is given a superficial analysis, devoid or technical feedback despite a recent restoration, and is unfortunately not assessed in the context of private portraiture. An original contribution by Bernstein inquires into the unexpected facet of Bindo as a music patron. Similarly, Wilson enlarges our vision of Bindo's interests to include the decorative arts by bringing to light a Faenza service bearing his wife's and his personal coats-of-arms.