Although Rembrandt van Rijn owned over eighty pieces of sculpture, studies regarding his use of the collection are in short supply and tend to be either formal, tracing the few images of sculpture in Rembrandt's oeuvre to those listed in his 1656 bankruptcy inventory, or else they refer to his use of classical sculpture in general terms as an inspiration for his history paintings. This study shifts emphasis from formal and iconographic issues to Rembrandt's studio practices and working methods. It examines his manipulation of the border between reality and illusion (what Ovid termed "the art that conceals art"): his effort to "incarnate" his sculptural sources by wrapping them in textiles and giving them the appearance of flesh. Seventeenth-century theory provides the foundation for this hypothesis: artists/theorists such as Karl van Mander, Peter Paul Rubens, and Philips Angel promoted the judicious use of sculpture and encouraged artists to transform its marmoreal surface into pliant flesh; Van Mander advised painters to make the thin garments of classical statues more appropriate for Northern paintings by wrapping them in woolen cloth; he also encouraged artists to "steal arms, legs, hands, and feet" from works of art and synthesize them into new creations. Esteemed precedents also support the hypothesis: recent studies of Cornelis Cornelius van Haarlem, Hendrick Goltzius, and Bartholomeus Spranger examined their use of Renaissance bronzes, an inexpensive and plentiful source that Rembrandt also seems to have tapped. Paragone, a popular debate in both Amsterdam and Leiden, is another facet of this study. Empirical observations reveal patterns in Rembrandt's use of sculpture: several etchings of his studio show busts adorned with hats or wrapped in fabric (a practice also described in a seventeenth-century poem about Rembrandt); a number of his head studies, genre, and history paintings suggest that he used busts of Roman emperors for models. The less subtle artistry of his students and his colleague Jan Lievens also exposes their use of clothed statues and thereby corroborates the hypothesis that Rembrandt's reliance on sculpture for models was more prevalent and artful (in the sense of covert) than has previously been noted. / Art History

Francesco Bordoni (1574?-1654), originaire de Florence, fut un sculpteur spécialiste du marbre et du bronze. Elève de Pietro Francavilla, il s’aguerrit à Florence dans la bottega de Giambologna, à l’époque de Ferdinand de Médicis, et il y participa aux chantiers du Grand-Duc, comme ceux occasionnés par son mariage (1589). Ensuite, il suivit Francavilla à Pise pour travailler aux chantiers de Ferdinand I. Vers 1601, il s’installa en France avec son maître. Cependant Francavilla revint bientôt à Florence, alors que Bordoni restait à Saint-Germain-en-Laye. Là, comme à Fontainebleau, il collabora avec le fontainier Tommaso Francini et fournit des sculptures pour les grottes et les fontaines des jardins, suivant le modèle de la villa de Pratolino. Plus tard il revint à Paris, où il travailla encore pour les souverains et les Concini. Il termina le piédestal de la statue équestre d’Henri IV (Pont-Neuf, Paris), commencée à Florence par Giambologna et Pietro Tacca. Il n’en subsiste que les quatre esclaves, signés par Bordoni (Musée du Louvre). Sa carrière continua sous le règne de Louis XIII. Dans les années 1630, il importa des marbres d’Italie et devint premier sculpteur du roi, il créa le sol en marbres et l’autel de la Chapelle de la Trinité de Fontainebleau avec les statues de Saint-Louis, de Charlemagne et quatre anges de bronze. Artiste profondément lié à la famille des Médicis et à la monarchie française, Bordoni participa aux stratégies de l’image voulues par ses grands clients. Cette thèse, fondée sur une large documentation d’archives, approfondit son œuvre dans ses rapports entre la sculpture italienne et française et dans son rôle avec Henri IV et ses successeurs. / Francesco Bordoni was a Florentine sculptor, a specialist in bronze and one Pierre de Fracheville’s disciples. He grew up in Florence in the “bottega” of Giambologna during the period of Ferdinando de’ Medici. He attended the yards of the Grad-Duke such as the ones for Ferdinando’s weddings. Later he followed Francheville to Pisa where he worked at Fedrinando’s monuments. Before 1601 he moved to France with his master. Therefore Francheville soon returned to Florence whereas Bordoni remained in Saint-Germain-en-Laye. In Saint-Germain-en-Laye as well as in Fontainebleau, he collaborated with Tommaso Francini for the sculptures of grottoes and fountains of the gardens following the model of the villa of Pratolino. Later he went back to Paris where he worked again for the king and for the Concinis. He concluded the basement of the equestrian statue of Henri IV (Pont Neuf, Paris) which had been commenced in Florence by Giambologna and Pietro Tacca. The four slaves which adorned the basement, signed by Bordoni, are at Louvre Museum. His career went on during the period of Louis XIII. In the 30’s he imported some marbles from Italy, he became the first sculptor of the King, he created the floor in marble and the altar of the Chappelle of Fontainebleau. He was an artist deeply bound to the Médicis and to the French monarchy. Tanks to his works he shared in the strategies of the images wanted by his great Patrons. The aim of my study is the relation with the Italian and French sculpture and his role in the reorganization of the Kingdom of Henry IV and of his successors.

La tesi consiste in uno studio monografico aggiornato, il primo in lingua italiana, dedicato allo scultore bavarese Hans Reichle, che fu un abile interprete della Maniera fiorentina al di là e al di qua delle Alpi. Il bavarese frequentò la bottega di Giambologna dal 1587 c. al 1594, anni di intenso studio durante i quali gettò le basi sulle quali costruì il successo di una vita: la memoria degli anni fiorentini e l’influenza del maestro si percepiscono in tutte le opere del catalogo del bavarese, dagli esordi fino alla piena maturità. La tesi è dedicata interamente all’esame della vita e dell’attività dello scultore. Inizialmente si ripercorre la biografia di Reichle, esaminando le opere realizzate nel corso della vita e il prestigio che queste guadagnarono. In questa prima parte emerge l’evoluzione del linguaggio dello scultore e, in particolare, il suo cimentarsi con tecniche che finora gli studi non avevano ammesso nel catalogo: si tratta di importanti novità che gettano luce su aspetti del tutto inediti della carriera dello scultore. Invece nella seconda parte della tesi si discutono alcuni casi-studio relativi alle imprese principali di Reichle. Un capitolo è poi dedicato all’eredità lasciata dallo scultore in Tirolo e agli allievi e collaboratori che affiancarono Reichle nel corso della sua vita. Le ultime due parti della tesi sono dedicate all’esame dell’inventario inedito del bavarese - che ha portato alla luce significative novità relative tanto alla biografia quanto alla sua attività - al catalogo delle opere di Reichle e dei suoi allievi, e infine all'appendice documentaria.

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