| This 52 cm high marble statue of Bernard was made in 1480/84 in Cremona by Giovanni Antonio Amadeo who was undoubtedly the leading Lombard sculptor of the late fifteenth century as well as being a prominent architect. His name is associated with the Colleoni Chapel in Bergamo, the Pavia Certosa, S Maria della Grazie in Milan, and the Cathedral in Milan. It may be compared with two other representations of Bernard: the sculpture in S Maria Maggiore in Rome where he is also featured without a beard, with the devil on a chain, and carrying a book, and in the figure in the Pavia Certosa from 1477, also with the devil on a chain, but with the book replaced by a crozier. Traces of fixings on the back tell us something of its original position: it must have been anchored and may therefore have formed part of an altarpiece. Unusually Bernard holds the devil by the hair instead of on a chain.
|
