Save the Wolsey Angels: The candelabrum and the sarcophagus [from 2014: Henry VIII, Cardinal Woolsey, Lord Nelson]

Victoria and Albert Museum ^ | December 15, 2014 | Brodie Lyon

[SunkenCiv]

Wolsey was much inspired by Pietro Torrigiano's gilt tomb for Henry VII at Westminster Abbey, and the Cardinal commissioned Benedetto Da Rovezzano to work on lavish tomb in the Renaissance style, of which the Wolsey Angels were to stand proudly at the four corners. As we know, the tomb was not completed during Wolsey's life time and following his fall from grace and subsequent death King Henry VIII reappropriated the elements of the tomb that Benedetto had thus far completed, discarding the effigy of Wolsey and other items which specifically pertained to the Cardinal.

Henry went on to commission Benedetto to extend the tomb and make it even grander in both scale and scope. The result was, among other items, the addition of four large bronze candelabra, each standing at over nine feet tall. Whereas the angels' history and whereabouts has been lost until very recently, the candelabra are known to have been acquired by the Bishop of Ghent in the 17th century...

Our Members' Events team organised two external visits to St Paul's Cathedral to see the black marble casket which was commissioned by Cardinal Wolsey and was used as part of the memorial for Admiral Lord Nelson. Buried in 9 January 1806, King George III decreed that the sarcophagus that had been intended for the Cardinal would finally be put to use. Nelson's body is not buried in the sarcophagus but beneath it.

What was also fascinating to come across in St Paul's were too copies of the candelabra in Ghent. Two of them stand by the alt[a]r in the eastern end of the Cathedral... it's a great pleasure to see the Weston Cast Court open once more and the cast of the candelabrum in Ghent back on display for all to see.

[SunkenCiv]

Lord Nelson was famously killed in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 and buried in St Paul's after a state funeral. He was laid in a coffin made from the timber of a French ship he defeated in battle. The black marble sarcophagus that adorns his tomb was originally made for Cardinal Wolsey, Lord Chancellor during the reign of Henry VIII in the early sixteenth century. After Wolsey's fall from favour, it remained unused at Windsor until a suitable recipient could be found. Nelson's viscount coronet now tops this handsome monument.

Discover the Crypt: Nelson's Tomb | The Chapter of St Paul's Cathedral

[SunkenCiv]

[SunkenCiv]

Torrigiano was the guy who broke Michelangelo’s nose after the Divine Mister M had taunted him and pushed him too far.

https://www.google.com/search?q=Pietro+Torrigiano

[SunkenCiv]

Art historian Felipe Pereda and Objects & Sculpture Conservator Tony Sigel propose a solution to the much-disputed and unknown authorship and identities of a pair of magnificent 16th century Renaissance terracotta busts in the Harvard Art Museums: "Portrait bust of a man" and "Portrait bust of a woman."

Prof. Pereda argues that these are among the most delicate terracotta portraits of the whole Renaissance period and are crucial in reframing the legacy of Pietro Torrigiano, the sculptor known best as "the man who broke Michelangelo's nose." This talk will take participants through the archival, art historical and technical evidence identifying the sitters, propose Pietro Torrigiano to be the sculptor who created them, and the modeling techniques he used to create the busts, from the inside out.

An Authorship Rediscovered: New Evidence about Harvard’s Pair of Renaissance Terracotta Busts | February 23, 2021 | Harvard Art Museums

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As a teen, Michelangelo was sent to live and study in the home of Lorenzo de’ Medici, then one of the most important art patrons in all of Europe. His steady hand with a chisel and paintbrush soon made him the envy of all his fellow pupils. One young rival named Pietro Torrigiano grew so enraged at Michelangelo’s superior talent—and perhaps also his sharp tongue—that he walloped him in the nose, leaving it permanently smashed and disfigured. “I gave him such a blow on the nose that I felt bone and cartilage go down like biscuit beneath my knuckles,” Torrigiano later bragged, “and this mark of mine he will carry with him to the grave.”

How did Michelangelo break his nose? | Premiered July 8, 2020 | Roberto Osti

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Explores the life and times of the great artist and reviews his paintings, sculpture, architecture, drawings, and poems. Follows his work from apprenticeship to the call to Rome by Pope Julius II to paint the Sistine Chapel ceiling.

Michelangelo: Artist & Genius | Full Documentary | July 2, 2021 | Biography

[higgmeister]

Thanks

[SunkenCiv]

My pleasure. Thanks for posting, looks like this one is going to be a dud. One never knows.

[higgmeister]

It wasn't a dud for me.   I looked for other articles about the once missing bronze statues and the history beyond it and the other artifacts.   It's amazing they could show up unidentified in an auction after a few hundred years.   It is also good to know that the Victoria and Albert Museum was able to reach the five million pounds sterling to purchase and restore the statues.

I also wonder about the unknown history that let successive kings and queens leave these near priceless art works in various storage locations to fade away.

[higgmeister]

Also any time I see Lord Nelson's name I have to look. &nsp; Perhaps it is because I'm a half Nelson myself, although not traceable to anyone related the the Admiral himself.

[mass55th]

If you ever get to watch the 2-season series of "Secrets of the Museum," I highly recommend it. It follows restorers at the Victoria & Albert Museum, as they work on stabilizing, and restoring all different kinds of items they have in their collection. It's a good way of seeing historical artifacts that you'll never get to see in person. You might be able to find some of them on YouTube:

Secrets of the Museum

They've also done a similar series on London's Natural History Museum.

[SunkenCiv]

ooooh, thanks! Looks like it’s on Googly-moogly.

https://www.google.com/search?q=%22Secrets+of+the+Museum%22&;

[SunkenCiv]

Heh, “half-Nelson”...

[SunkenCiv]

The English Civil War had that kind of result, but during the Victorian era the economy was going great guns, and a lot of stuff that had survived got demolished. The pubs where Shakespeare used to eat and drink had miraculously survived the 1666 Great Fire, only to get torn down about 120 years ago.

[Sans-Culotte]

Nelson had one of the greatest deaths, being killed during his greatest victory. Had he survived, he would have lived to see himself and the Royal Navy becomes more or less irrelevant because he had crushed French sea power so thoroughly at Trafalgar. Instead, he went out in a blaze of glory.

[SunkenCiv]

He kept losing parts of his body, had he not died then, eventually he’d have had to be lashed to the mast like Odysseus.

[higgmeister]

Yes, describing my heritage with a wrestling hold, yet I have only been to one wrestling event in my life.   It was about 1966 in the parking lot of the local TV Station transmitter site atop Monte Sano Mountain in Huntsville, Alabama.

I suspect that it was a match with Len Rossi but he is the only name I remember from back then.

Len Rossi - bio

[mass55th]

"ooooh, thanks! Looks like it’s on Googly-moogly."

Cool!! There was a second season earlier this year too. I'm fascinated by programs like this. I was amazed at the number of conservation experts that work for V&A. They have many who specialize in specific areas, like textiles, paintings, statues, paper, gems, etc.

This is another interesting series. Fiona Bruce from Antiques Roadshow UK, and art specialist Philip Mould work to track down the provenance of unsigned art works that might actually be missing masterpieces. Part of the show consists of art restorers, stripping away the varnish, and over painting, also scanning the paintings in order to determine whether the painting is an original, or a forgery.

Fake or Fortune

Then there's this interesting tv series that searches for missing British artworks:

Britain's Lost Masterpieces

Each season of this particular series tells the story of a specific house in Britain from it's construction, through the years of it's occupancy to the present time. It features a detailed history of each of the families who lived in the homes over the years.

A House Through Time

The series title for the London Natural History Museum tv series is:

Natural History Museum: World of Wonder

[SunkenCiv]

I listened to perhaps half of 1:1, and it was to that point about dolls and fashion dresses. I plan to try it on Roku tonight.