{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O96377"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O96377/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2009CD1581/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2009CD1581/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2009CD1581","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2009CD1555","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2009CD1554","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2009CD1553","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AC5593","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2019MA6808","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2019MA6806","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O96377/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O96377","accessionNumber":"A.5-1963","objectType":"Bust","titles":[{"title":"Annibale Caro","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"The humanist Annibale Caro was a key figure in the artistic life of Rome under Pope Paul III, and prepared the programme of Paul III's monument in St Peter's. He was a poet of considerable distinction and a friend of Michelangelo. He is best remembered for his translation into Italian of Vergil's Aeneid. Born in Civitanova Marche in 1507, he spent most of his life in Rome, where he died in 1566. He was buried in the church of San Lorenzo in Damaso, with a fine monument incorporating a marble bust by Giovanni Antonio Dosio. \r\nThis bust was commissioned after his death in 1566, probably by his brothers,  from Antonio Calcagni (1536-1593), the principal sculptor working on the embellishment of the cathedral of Loreto. Calcagni, who had his foundry in the nearby town of Recanati, was one of the most accomplished sculptors in bronze of the sixteenth century and excelled in portrait sculpture.","physicalDescription":"The portrait consists of a bronze head mounted on a polychrome bust of red and white Breccia marble. This is set on a mistio pedestal with a black marble cartellino in front (inscribed ANNIBAL CARVS). The sitter is shown with a wide, curly beard, his hair cropped short and receding at the temples, but leaving a tuft at the centre of his high forehead. The head is turned slightly to the spectator's left.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Calcagni, Antonio","id":"A12140"},"association":{"text":"maker","id":"AAT251917"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"marble","id":"AAT11443"},{"text":"bronze","id":"AAT10957"},{"text":"bronze","id":"AAT10957"}],"techniques":[{"text":"carved","id":"x30667"},{"text":"cast","id":"x32615"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Cast bronze and carved red and white Breccia marble","categories":[{"text":"Sculpture","id":"THES48896"},{"text":"Portraits","id":"THES48906"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"SCP","id":"THES48600"},"images":["2009CD1581","2009CD1555","2009CD1554","2009CD1553","2006AC5593","2019MA6808","2019MA6806"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"62 (VA)","id":"THES49739"},"free":"","case":"SECREEN1","shelf":"WE","box":"EXP"}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Bust","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Recanati","id":"x38091"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1566-1572","earliest":"1561-01-01","latest":"1572-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Purchased with Art Fund support","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"76.8","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"51","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"27.8","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"Measured for the Medieval and Renaissance Galleries.","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"'ANNIBAL CARVS'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Incised between the socle and the bust."}],"objectHistory":"This bust was once in the library of the Caro family house in Civitanova Marche, as recorded in an inventory taken in 1578 ('A statue from the chest up, with the head in bronze and the chest of variegated marble, with a socle of variegated marble, set on a pedestal of wood, and inscribed Annibal Carus'; A. Greco, Annibale Caro, Rome 1950, p. 134). By the early 19th century the bust was no longer at Civitanova (it is referred to as lost by A. Ricci, Memorie storiche della arti e degli artisti della Marca di Ancona, Macerata, 1834, II, p. 53). It was exhibited at the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1867 (its owner was at that time M. Beurdeley). It later appeared in the sale of the Stein collection on 12th May 1886 at the Galerie Georges Petit, as no. 230. It was purchased by the Comtesse de Rochefort, and thereafter disappeared, though its existence was recorded by Bernath in Thieme-Becker, Kunstlerlexikon, V, 1911, p. 375. The bust was then acquired by K.J. Hewett Ltd. from a descendant of the Comtesse de Rochefort, who bore the same title and had inherited the bust from her. The museum bought it from K.J. Hewett Ltd. in 1963 for £3000, with the assistance of a contribution from the National Art Collections Fund of £1000.\n\nHistorical significance: This bust portrays the great Italian humanist and poet Annibale Caro (1507-1566).\r\nIt was commissioned after his death, probably by his brothers Giovanni and Fabio, from Antonio Calcagni (1536-1593), the principal sculptor working on the embellishment of the cathedral of Loreto. Calcagni, who had his foundry in the nearby town of Recanati, was one of the most accomplished sculptors in bronze of the sixteenth century and excelled in portrait sculpture. \r\nThe ascription of the bust to Antonio Calcagni depends on a reference in Baldinucci's life of the sculptor: 'In questo tempo si crede che gia avesse fatta la statua di Bronzo del virtuosissimo comendatore Annibal Caro, gloria della sua patria Civita Nova nella Marca d'Ancona. Questa figura, che e una testa col busto sopra un bel piedistallo, si conserva tuttavia, in memoria di tant'uomo, nella casa di sua famiglia in essa citta' (Notizie dei professori di disegno, ed. 1846, Florence, III, p. 106). The opening words 'in questo tempo' refer to the sculptor's marriage in 1572, and so the bust was probably executed before that date. \r\nThis posthumous bust was most probably modelled after a painted portrait by Jacopino del Conte, referred to in Caro's letters of June and July 1562, but now lost. Calcagni's success in imbuing it with such a powerful impression of a living presence is a remarkable achievement.","historicalContext":"The humanist Annibale Caro was a key figure in the artistic life of Rome under Pope Paul III, and prepared the programme of Paul III's monument in St Peter's. He was a poet of considerable distinction and a friend of Michelangelo. He is best remembered for his translation into Italian of Virgil's Aeneid. Born in Civitanova Marche in 1507, he spent most of his life in Rome, where he died in 1566. He was buried in the church of San Lorenzo in Damaso, with a fine monument incorporating a marble bust by Giovanni Antonio Dosio.","briefDescription":"Bust, bronze and marble, of Annibale Caro, by Antonio Calcagni, Italy (Recanati), about 1566-1572","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Pope-Hennessy, J. 'Antonio Calcagni's Bust of Annibale Caro' in <u>Arte in Europa, Scritti di Storia dell'Arte in onore di Edoardo Arslan</u> Milan, 1966, pp. 557-580 (re-printed in <u>Essays on Italian Sculpture</u> London, 1968, pp. 158-61"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Radcliffe, A. 'A long lost bust of Annibale Caro' <u>Grosvenor House Antiques Fair Handbook</u> 1984, pp. 16-17"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Giannatiempo Lopez, M. 'Antonio Calcagni e la porta sud di Loreto' in <u>Le Arti nelle Marche al Tempo di Sisto V</u> Exhibition catalogue (edited by Paolo dal Poggetto), Milan, 1992, pp. 236-7."}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[{"text":"Recanati","id":"x38091"}],"contentPerson":[{"text":"Caro, Annibal","id":"N3942"}],"associatedPerson":[{"text":"Annibal Caro","id":"N3942"}],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null}},{"text":"The bust represents the great sixteenth-century poet, classical scholar and man-of-letters, Annibale Caro. He was born in Civitanova, near Loreto, and the bust was commissioned after his death by his brothers from Antonio Calcagni, the principal sculptor then working at the cathedral at Loreto, which contains the important pilgrimage shrine of the Holy House. Calcagni, whose foundry was in the nearby town of Recanati, was one of the most accomplished sculptors in bronze of the sixteenth century. The portrait, which is based on a painting of Caro, is described in the library of the Caro family house at Civitanova in an inventory of 1578.","date":{"text":"December 1995","earliest":"1995-12-01","latest":"1995-12-31"}}],"partNumbers":["A.5-1963"],"accessionNumberNum":"5","accessionNumberPrefix":"A","accessionYear":1963,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2019LN9719","2019LV2055","2019LV8582"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-12","recordCreationDate":"2004-03-08","availableToBook":false}}