The Bronzes of Pier Jacopo Alari-Bonacolsi, Called Antico.

Pier Jacopo Alari-Bonacolsi, called Antico, is often thought of as a derivative artist and relatively minor figure who made small, sleek, and highly-polished bronze reproductions of ancient works of art for the Mantuan court. But as Ann Hersey Allison demonstrates in her solid new monograph on Antico, this is not an accurate assessment: Antico was more than a mere copyist or technician. His works are subtle and intelligent interpretations of classical statuary - variations on ancient themes - which now, in an age when appropriation plays so important a role in contemporary art, we are in an especially good position to appreciate.

Although highly esteemed by his Gonzaga patrons, Antico was little known outside Mantua and quickly forgotten after his death. Vasari, who once paid a visit to Mantua, does not speak of him at all. Only toward the end of the nineteenth century, as Italian bronze sculpture grew in popularity among collectors, does interest in Antico revive, spurred on by the archival research of Umberto Rossi, and then, just after the turn of the century, the stylistic surmises of Wilhelm Bode. The first extended study of Antico's work was undertaken by Hermann Julius Hermann and published in the Jahrbuch der Kunsthistorischen Sammlungen des Allerhochsten Kaiserhauses in 1909-10. Since then Antico has received only sporadic attention. Allison's new monograph, therefore, provides us after close to a century with a much needed, up-to-date account of Antico's career, and is the first extended study in English. As the author herself points out (37), it is fitting that it should appear in the yearbook of the same museum which first published Hermann's article (and which, not incidentally, has the largest collection of Antico's sculpture in the world).

Allison follows the traditional monograph format, which remains a useful approach. She begins with an account of the artist's life based on a close reading of the documents, a few of which have not been published before (the documents are presented at the end). She guides us cogently through Antico's stylistic development, dealing separately with the reliefs (including the medals), the statuettes, and the busts. After that, she turns her attention to the content of Antico's work. Not everyone will be happy with her neo-platonic explanations, but her discussion is a rich one, full of valuable information and interesting suggestions.

The bulk of the study is a clear and detailed catalogue, with a great deal of technical information that helps to unravel the often vexing problems concerning replicas, aftercasts and variants; once again, the works are grouped by category. One of the main additions here is the group of four busts in the Seminario Vescovile in Mantua, which Allison had previously published in the Mitteilungen des Kusthistorischen Institutes in Florenz. Allison makes a good case for their inclusion, but the question, I think, remains open. Although the so-called Antoninus Pius fits comfortably with the rest of Antico's oeuvre, the other three display an interest in characterization, a kind of verism that is not otherwise evident in Antico's work, not even in his medallic portraits.

Allison's monograph is handsomely produced, with nicely-reproduced black-and-white photographs. It would be helpful, however, for a study of this length to have an index and/or a bibliography (even if they are not called for by the journal-article format). It is also regrettable that Allison was not able to consult Dieter Blume's thought-provoking essay on Antico in the Stadel-Jahrbuch (1987), which stresses the importance of the courtly context in the development of Antico's art. Allison covers some of the same ground in her conclusion, and Blume's insights might have proved useful. In any case, Allison's study is a strong addition to the growing literature on the bronze sculpture of the late quattrocento and early cinquecento; it makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the Gonzaga court - and its voracious appetite for the antique - during an interesting and a pivotal period.

LEW ANDREWS University of Hawaii, Manoa