Niccolò dell' Arca
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Niccolò dell’Arca (Bari ?,ca. 1435-1440 – Bologna, 2 March 1494) was one of the most original and unique Italian Early Renaissance sculptors. He is also known under the names Niccolò da Ragusa, Niccolò da Bari and Niccolò d'Antonio d'Apulia. The surname “dell’Arca” refers to his contribution to the Arca di San Domenico, a splendid masterpiece.
The place and the year of his birth are not certain. He was probably born in Apulia and then perhaps lived for some time in Dalmatia. According to C. Gnudi (see ref.) he received there training by the Dalmatian sculptor Giorgio da Sebenico. Other art historians suppose he was of Slav origin.
The Burgundian elements in his sculpture are attributed by some art historians to his presumed participation in the triumphal arch of the Castel Nuovo in Naples during the 1450’s (where he would have known the Catalan sculptor Guillem Sagrera and would be influenced by his style).
Others, rejecting his training in Naples, contend instead that he travelled to France in the late 1460’s. According to them, his further training then allegedly took place in Siena, influenced by the works of Jacopo della Quercia and Donatello.
He was mentioned for the first time in September 1462 in Bologna as Maestro Nicolò da Puglia, a “master of terracotta figures”. This probably refers to the “Lamentation”, a signed painted terracotta group in the church Santa Maria della Vita in Bologna (also mentioned in a Bull of 1464 by Pope Paul II). A life-size group of six separate figures stand lamenting in a semicircle around the dead Christ in a lying posture. The dramatic pathos, the expressions of grief and torment of the figures is intensified by the realism of their dramatic facial details. However the date of this innovative contribution to Renaissance sculpture is uncertain. Instead of ca. 1460, some date it between 1485 and 1490.
In 1469 he got the commission of an ambitious new addition on the Arca di San Domenico : a spiral superstructure and several free-standing figures on top of the sarcophagus. This sarcophagus with the remains of Saint Dominic had been sculpted two centuries before by Nicola Pisano and his workshop (between 1265 and 1267). It had been completed by lapo, Arnolfo di Cambio and fra Guglielmo da Pisa. Niccolò dell’Arca added an elaborate spire with an impressive statue of “God the Father” on top of a candelabrum, held by two putti and four dolphins, all covered with festoons with fruit. On the cornice at its base is in the middle a small Pietà, flanked by two angels, while on the four corners stand the four Evangelists in oriental dress. The lower part of the superstructure is surrounded by free-standing figures : the Patron Saints of Bologna (Saint Francis of Assisi, San Petronio (began by Niccolò but finished by young Michelangelo in 1494), Saint Dominic and San Floriano. On the back stand St Anne, St John the Baptist (sculpted by Girolamo Cortellini in 1539), San Procolo (Michelangelo, 1494 – this statue shows that he had already his David in mind a that time) and San Vitale. Niccolò also added the Candlestick-holding Angel on the left side of the altar slab. (the one on the right side is by Michelangelo).
Niccolò dell’Arca worked on this masterpiece between 1469 and 1473. But it wasn’t finished at that time. He probably continued intermittently at it until his death. Art critics see in this masterpiece a blend of influences : Burgundian, Florentine and non-Tuscan (such as details in clothing). The way these statuettes express their emotions and the patterns in their dresses and hair evoke the style of Jacopo della Quercia.
It is difficult to find an exact word describing this superstructure. The words, used in some texts, canopy doesn't quite fit, while the word cyma is certainly wrong, as it applies to a cornice. The 15th-century notary, who wrote the contract for work and materials for Niccolò dell'Arca, wrote five times "clipeus" (= round shield), and twice "clipeus seu capellum" (= shield or hat). Two documents, placed inside the tomb, called the upper part "tegumentum, copertorium (both = covering), chapelo (= hat)". In more modern texts some of the following words were used : new setting, new structure, covering, superstructure, new cover, new crowning feature, roof or lid, fanciful upper zone and crowning zone.
Some other important works include the terracotta bust of Saint Dominic (1474) (in the museum of the Basilica of San Domenico in Bologna), a marble statue of St John the Baptist (in the Escorial in Madrid) and the terracotta figure of Saint Monica (ca. 1478-1480) (Museum Palace in Modena).
Finally the terracotta high relief of “Madonna di Piazza” (1478) on the wall of Palazzo Comunale in Bologna. In the marked drapery folds we see again the influence of Jacopo della Quercia and also traces of the dynamic naturalism of his contemporary Andrea del Verrocchio
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[edit] References
- Cesare Gnudi – Nuove ricerche su Niccolo dell’Arca (Rome, 1973)
- Beck, James H. (Sep. 1965). Niccolo dell'Arca: A Reexamination. Art Bulletin 47 (3): 335-344.
- J. Pope-Hennessy – Italian Renaissance Sculpture; 3 vols.; London 1958, rev. New York 1985
- Klebanoff Randi (December 1999). Sacred magnificence: civic intervention and the arca of San Domenico in Bologna. Journal of the Society for Renaissance Studies 13 (4).
- D'Amato, Alfonso. 1988. I Domenicani a Bologna; Bologna: Edizioni Studio Domenicano, 1988; pages 93, 94(twice), 95, and 96
