BERTOLDO di Giovanni. — Sculptor and medallist, born in Florence in 1420, died in 1491. A pupil of Donatello, he collaborated with his master on the pedestal of the Judith and on other sculptures. He expressed himself with a pronounced realism in forms stirred by expressive violence and rendered in strong relief. His principal works are the Crucifixion, an Equestrian Battle, and a Pietà, at the Bargello (Florence). He was the author of the commemorative medal of the Pazzi conspiracy (1478). A friend of Lorenzo the Magnificent, he directed the “Giardino di S. Marco,” that school of art created by the Magnificent, where young sculptors studied and copied ancient statues and which was also attended by Michelangelo.
BIBL.: F. Schottmüller, s. V. in Thieme-Becker, III, pp. 505-507 (with bibliography); M. Semrau, B. di G. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Donatello-schule, Breslau 1915; W. Bode, B. u. Lorenzio dei Medici, Freiburg in Br. 1925. For B. as medallist v.: E. Jacobs, Die Mehremmed-Medaille des B., in Jahrbuch der preuss. Kunstsamml., 48 (1927), pp. 1-17.