ARNOLDI, ALBERTO. - Known as Alberto Fiorentino, sculptor, son of a Lombard stonecutter: he is remembered in a novella by Sacchetti. In 1351 he was working under the direction of Francesco Talenti on the windowed sections of Giotto's campanile in Florence; in 1357-58 he was working on the Cathedral. In 1361 he executed a Madonna and Child in relief within the lunette of the side door of the oratory of the Compagnia del Bigallo; likewise his is the statue of the Madonna and Child flanked by two candle-bearing angels on the altar of the same oratory: the group was commissioned in 1359 and completed in 1364.

According to Sacchetti, A. entered the service of the Duke of Milan, Galeazzo Visconti: the year of his death is unknown. The series of reliefs with the Sacraments on the exterior of Giotto's campanile has rightly been attributed to him. A direct pupil and follower of Andrea Pisano, he interprets his style with plastic energy and with a rigor of forms and composition that is almost geometric in the reliefs of the Sacraments, vividly expressive and of the highest iconographic interest; in the sculptures of the Bigallo, of a somewhat metallic dryness, influences of Orcagna are perceptible.

Bibliography2 works

BIBL.: J. B. Supino, Le sculture della Loggetta del Bigallo, in Riv. d'Arte, 2 (1904), pp. 210-14; A. Venturi, St. dell'arte ital., IV, Milan 1906, p. 683 ff.: L. Becherucci, I rilievi dei Sacramenti nel Campanile del Duomo di Firenze, in L'Arte, 30 (1927), pp. 214-23.

Enzo Carli

@incollection{ec1_arnoldi_alberto, author = {Carli, Enzo}, title = {Arnoldi, alberto}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {I}, pages = {2012--2013}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1948}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/arnoldi-alberto} }

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Arnoldi, Alberto

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