The RenaissanceLooking closer at the 15th and 16th centuries in Europe, a period during which artists, architects, politicians, scientists, and writers embraced humanism, bringing their society from the Middle Ages to the modern era.
Vote up your favorite examples of Italian Renaissance sculptures.
List of famous Italian Renaissance sculptures, ranked by user votes with pictures of the art when available. The Italian Renaissance period was a cultural awakening in the art world, so it's no surprise it produced some of the most historic sculptures in the history of the world. The works of art listed below are some of the most popular Italian Renaissance sculptures, so most of the artist's names who created these works will be very recognizable. Renowned sculptures from the Italian Renaissance period are showcased in museums all around the world, so save yourself an expensive vacation by simply scrolling through this list.
Examples of pieces on this list include Pietà and Crucifix.
This list answers the questions, “What are the most famous Italian Renaissance sculptures?” and “What are examples of Italian Renaissance sculptures?”
Hercules and Cacus is a white sculpture to the right of the entrance of the Palazzo Vecchio in the Piazza della Signoria, Florence, Italy.
This work by the Florentine artist Baccio Bandinelli was commissioned as a pendant to David, which had been commissioned by the republican counsel of Florence, under Piero Soderini, to commemorate the victory over the Medici.
The colossus was originally given to Michelangelo and meant to complement the David but later appropriated by the Medici family as a symbol of their renewed power after their return from exile in 1512, and again in 1530. Although descriptions of its unveiling in 1534 provided verbal and written criticisms of the marble, most were ...more
Artist: Bartolommeo Bandinelli
Subject: Cacus, Heracles, Hercules
Art Form: Sculpture
Period / Movement: Italian Renaissance, Renaissance
The Deposition is a marble sculpture by the Italian High Renaissance master Michelangelo. The sculpture, on which Michelangelo worked between 1547 and 1553, depicts four figures – the dead body of Jesus Christ, newly taken down from the Cross, Nicodemus, Mary Magdalene and the Virgin Mary. The sculpture is housed in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo in Florence.
According to Vasari, Michelangelo made the Florence Pietà to decorate his tomb in Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. Vasari noted that Michelangelo began to work on the sculpture around the age of 72. Without commission, Michelangelo worked tirelessly into the night with just a single candle to illuminate his work. Vasari wrote that he ...more
Artist: Michelangelo
Art Form: Sculpture
Period / Movement: Italian Renaissance, Renaissance
The Cristo della Minerva, also known as Christ the Redeemer, Christ Carrying the Cross or the Risen Christ, is a marble sculpture by the Italian High Renaissance master Michelangelo Buonarroti, finished in 1521. It is in the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome, to the left of the main altar.
The work was commissioned in June 1514, by the Roman patrician Metello Vari, who stipulated only that the nude standing figure would have the Cross in his arms, but left the composition entirely to Michelangelo. Michelangelo was working on a first version of this statue in his shop in Macello dei Corvi around 1515, but abandoned it in roughed-out condition when he discovered a black vein in the ...more
Artist: Michelangelo
Subject: Jesus Christ
Art Form: Sculpture
Period / Movement: Italian Renaissance, Renaissance
The Pietà is a world-famous work of Renaissance sculpture by Michelangelo Buonarroti, housed in St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City. It is the first of a number of works of the same theme by the artist. The statue was commissioned for the French Cardinal Jean de Bilhères, who was a representative in Rome. The sculpture, in Carrara marble, was made for the cardinal's funeral monument, but was moved to its current location, the first chapel on the right as one enters the basilica, in the 18th century. It is the only piece Michelangelo ever signed.
This famous work of art depicts the body of Jesus on the lap of his mother Mary after the Crucifixion. The theme is of Northern origin, popular by ...more
Artist: Michelangelo
Subject: Pietà, Lamentation of Christ, Blessed Virgin Mary
Genres (Art): Christian art
Art Form: Sculpture
Period / Movement: Italian Renaissance, Renaissance
David is a masterpiece of Renaissance sculpture created between 1501 and 1504, by Italian sculptor, painter, architect, poet Michelangelo.
It is a 4.34-metre, 5.17-metre with the base marble statue of a standing male nude. The statue represents the Biblical hero David, a favoured subject in the art of Florence. Originally commissioned as one of a series of statues of prophets to be positioned along the roofline of the east end of Florence Cathedral, the statue was placed instead in a public square, outside the Palazzo della Signoria, the seat of civic government in Florence, where it was unveiled on 8 September 1504.
Because of the nature of the hero it represented, the statue soon came to ...more
Artist: Michelangelo
Subject: David
Art Form: Sculpture
Period / Movement: Italian Renaissance, Renaissance
The Madonna of Bruges is a marble sculpture by Michelangelo of Mary with the infant Jesus.
Michelangelo's depiction of the Madonna and Child differs significantly from earlier representations of the same subject, which tended to feature a pious Virgin smiling down on an infant held in her arms. Instead, Jesus stands upright, almost unsupported, only loosely restrained by Mary's left hand, and appears to be about to step away from his mother and into the world. Meanwhile, Mary does not cling to her son or even look at him, but gazes down and away, as if she knows already what is to be her son's fate. It is believed the work was originally intended for an altar piece. If this is so, then it ...more
Artist: Michelangelo
Subject: Jesus Christ, Blessed Virgin Mary, Madonna and Child
Art Form: Sculpture
Period / Movement: Italian Renaissance, Renaissance
