Bertoldo di Giovanni


Bertoldo di Giovanni was an Italian sculptor and medallist.
. Medal of Bertoldo di Giovanni. Electrotype

Life

Bertoldo was a pupil of Donatello. He worked in Donatello's workshop for many years, completing Donatello's unfinished works after his death in 1466, for example the bronze pulpit reliefs from the life of Christ in the Basilica di San Lorenzo di Firenze in Florence.
Bertoldo later became head and teacher of the informal academy for painters and in particular for sculptors, which Lorenzo de' Medici had founded in his garden. At the same time, Bertoldo was the custodian of the Roman antiquities there. Though Bertoldo was not a major sculptor, some of the most significant sculptors of their time attended this school, such as Michelangelo, Baccio da Montelupo, Giovanni Francesco Rustici and Jacopo Sansovino.

Works

Di Giovanni was the sculptor of a medal of Sultan Mohammed II. Di Giovanni along with a number of collaborators created the "Frieze for the portico of the Medici Villa at Poggio a Caiano.
He is the author of several medals that were formerly attributed by error to Antonio del Pollaiolo.