POLLAIUOLO, PIERO – Coronation of the Virgin (1483). S. Gimignano, Collegiata.
A first Roman sojourn of the artist dates to 1469. The impression of his stay in Rome is evident in the landscape, as well as in the plastic maturity expressed in the Martyrdom of St Sebastian (1475; London, National Gallery). In addition to his oath as “aurifex aurario,” other documents concerning the position and activity of P. as a goldsmith extend from 1472 to 1480. These are the years of his relations with Pope Sixtus IV; of his collaboration (1478) on the Silver Altar; and of the execution of the Assisi antependium: by this time the artist’s fame was at its height. This is confirmed by the presence (1474) of a cartoon “cum quibusdam nudis Poleyoli” in the studio of Francesco Squarcione. For P.’s architectural activity, it is important to note that he submitted a design (1491) for the façade of S. Maria del Fiore. The bronze monument to Pope Sixtus IV in St Peter’s was completed in 1492; and, in collaboration with his brother, he executed that for Innocent VIII, finished in 1498. He was unable, however, to realize the equestrian monument to Francesco Sforza, of which two drawings survive, in Munich and New York respectively. The attribution to A. del P. of the two putti of the Capitoline Wolf remains uncertain.
Both the goldsmith works and those in sculpture and painting by P. reveal a unity of intent and meaning, in the energetic rhythm of the plastic and dynamic line: St Mary of Egypt from the pieve of Staggia, the admirable female profiles: that in Berlin (State Museum) and the other in the Poldi Pezzoli Museum in Milan; Tobias and the Archangel Raphael (Turin, Pinacoteca). In this work the collaboration of the brother Piero can still be excluded. The high pictorial level is maintained, for example, in the Saints Vincent, James and Eustace (Florence, Uffizi). Another fresco, in poor condition, typical for its sense of movement, is the frieze with the Dance of Nudes in the Villa Gallina at Arcetri (Florence), which can be attributed solely to Antonio.
Exclusively his are works of pure and intense spiritual value such as the small Donatellesque David of Berlinghieri (State Museum); Apollo and Daphne in London (National Gallery); Hercules and Deianira from the Jarves Collection (New Haven, U.S.A.); the two finished sketches for the Labors of Hercules, formerly in the Uffizi (lost after the Second World War). In these last paintings the “aerial” landscape reflects the same vibrant, sensitive linear exaltation of the figures, and the ductus of the impasto color that breaks up on the pictorial surface is also of assistance. As regards his plastic activity, the monument to Sixtus IV fully exalts Antonio’s style, and is entirely a bundle of nervous plastic elements. These qualities are attenuated in the monument to Innocent VIII, also in St Peter’s, owing to the preponderance of his brother’s collaboration. Parallel to the Labors of Hercules on canvas is the bronze of Hercules and Antaeus (Florence, Bargello), of incomparable dynamic and expressionistic effect. The Terracotta Bust of a Warrior, also in the Bargello, should at least be mentioned. Many drawings are attributed to Antonio or his school, distinguished by the “functional” significance of the contour line. Typical of Antonio are: Adam and Eve (Uffizi), Hercules and the Hydra in the British Museum; Hercules and the Giants in the Museum of Cambridge (U.S.A.), etc. From Antonio’s drawings derive the Embroideries for S. Maria del Fiore (Museo dell’Opera); the engraving of the Battle of Nudes, etc.
His brother Piero, also a painter, was probably born in 1443 and almost certainly died in 1496 in Rome, where he was buried with Antonio in S. Pietro in Vincoli.
He collaborated with his brother on the Labors of Hercules; alone he executed (1469–70) the Virtues for the backrests of the seats in the Florentine tribunal of the Mercatanzia. Even here, however, Antonio must have supplied the designs for his brother, as is proved by the cartoon for Charity. Piero painted Faith, Hope, Temperance, Justice, Prudence (Florence, Uffizi). In these allegories he shows how he followed in his brother’s footsteps, more or less successfully. The artist manifests a calmer figurative vision, resolved in smoother, more precious, clearer chromatic surfaces; at times with a sense of detail that presupposes a knowledge of Flemish painting. This is especially evident in the panel of the Annunciation in the Berlin Museum. On the other hand, P. del P. also has a female type, characterized by a broader and at the same time fuller oval of the face. He was also influenced by Verrocchio (van Marle), as appears from the St Michael in the Bardini Museum in Florence. Another work in which P. worked alone, engaging in a complex composition, is the panel of the Coronation of the Virgin in the Collegiata of S. Gimignano, signed and dated by Piero del P. Florentino 1483. As a portraitist he is recognized in some female profiles: a Female Portrait in the Uffizi, another in the Pitti Gallery, a third in the National Gallery in London. He probably accompanied his brother Antonio to Rome in 1483, when the latter began the monument to Pope Sixtus IV. If Pietro collaborated there, his contribution was certainly only material, given the genuine individuality of the work; whereas the shortcomings of the monument to Pope Innocent VIII reflect his extensive involvement.
PÖLLMANN, ANSGAR – German Benedictine writer, b. 21 Sept. 1871 at Hechingen (Hohenzollern), who lived for many years in the monastery of Beuron, d. at Eltville am Rhein on 20 June 1933.
He is known as founder and editor of the religious poetry journal Gottesminne, published from 1903 to 1907 and from 1911 to 1913, and especially as a lyric poet. His principal collections, Sonnenschein (1902), Kleine Lieder (1904), Maria vom deutschen Siege (1914), bear witness to original inspiration, clarity of feeling, and modernity of concept and form. Military chaplain during the First World War, he also composed patriotic songs collected under the title Die Lieder vom eisernen Kreuz. Among his literary essays should be noted Rossegger und sein Glaube and Was ist uns Schiller? Notable too was his activity in the field of art criticism, particularly with regard to the Beuron school of painting. For study purposes he visited Italy several times, and during his stay at Montecassino he assisted for a time Father Desiderius Lenz in revising manuscripts for the edition of the Canon.