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1520-25 Marble, height: 56 cm Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna In Venice, during the closing decades of the 15th century, a pure classicising style, derived from Andrea Mantegna, was introduced. Tullio Lombardo turned to classical sculpture proper for his guiding force. His portraits of young couples in high relief (the other is in the Ca' d'Oro in Venice) were inspired by antique funerary busts, but the sculptor completely rejected naturalism. The simplicity of the volumes and the sobriety of expression are set off by decorative refinements which depart from the antique schema. They include embroidered hairnets in the hair and meticulously designed sinuous locks. His Bacchus and Ariadne shows him at his most lyrical, under the influence of the Humanism at the Gonzaga court at Mantua, where he worked for Isabella d'Este in 1523 and 1527 |
