BERTOLDO di GIOVANNI. - Sculptor and medallist, born in Florence in 1420, died in 1491. A disciple of Donatello, he collaborated with his master on the base of the Judith and on other sculptures. He expressed himself through a marked realism, in forms animated by expressive violence and modelled in high relief. His principal works are the Crucifixion, an Equestrian Battle, and a Pietà, in the Bargello (Florence). He was the author of the commemorative medal of the Pazzi conspiracy (1478). A friend of Lorenzo il Magnifico, he directed the «Giardino di S. Marco», that school of art created by the Magnifico, 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. 503-507 (with bibliography); M. Semrau, B. di G. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Donatello-schule, Breslavia 1915; W. Bode, B. u. Lorenzo dei Medici, Friburgo in Br. 1925. For B. as a medallist v.: E. Jacobs, Die Mohammed-Medaille des B., in Jahrbuch der preuss. Kunstsam., 48 (1927), pp. 1-17. Elsa Gerlini