The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 25, 2024

Model for an Angel

c. 1583–84

Annibale Fontana

(Italian, 1540–1587)

Italy, Milan

wax on a metal armature, mounted on wood

Overall: 54 x 16 x 26 cm (21 1/4 x 6 5/16 x 10 1/4 in.)

Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund 1984.38

Location: 117A Italian Renaissance

Description

Annibale Fontana created this wax model, perhaps in part for the patron’s approval, while preparing a sculpture for the Church of Santa Maria presso San Celso in Milan. The angel was mounted high on the facade, so the composition needed to be impeccably balanced as well as legible from the ground. Wings and a trumpet appear in the final work, but Fontana here concentrates on the deep folds, clinging drapery, and forceful pose.

Rene Gott S.A. (Geneva, Switzerland) and Thomas Howard-Sneyd (London, England), sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1984.
Fusco, Peter. "Two Wax Models by Annibale Fontana." Antologia di belle arti 21-22 (1984): 40-46. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 44-46, figs. 8-10
Turner, Evan H. “The Year in Review for 1984.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 72, no. 2 (1985): 163–207. Reproduced: P. 177, no. 11 www.jstor.org
Duffin, Ross. "The Cleveland Museum of Art." RIdIM/RCMI Inventory of Music Iconography no. 8 (1986). Mentioned: P. 8, no. 156
Winter, Patrick M. de. “Recent Accessions of Italian Renaissance Decorative Arts, Part II.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 73, no. 4 (1986): 142–82. Mentioned: P. 165; reproduced: P. 164, fig. 180, 181 www.jstor.org
Wengraf, Patricia. European Bronzes & Terracottas: Patricia Wengraf Celebrates 40 Years of Fine Sculpture. London: Paul Holberton Publishing 2018. Mentioned: p. 38
Year in Review for 1984. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 3-May 5, 1985).
{{cite web|title=Model for an Angel|url=false|author=Annibale Fontana|year=c. 1583–84|access-date=25 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1984.38