What knockers! Italian bronze doorknockers: Mainly Renaissance. A study in functional sculpture.

摘要

This dissertation examines Italian bronze doorknockers, a particular class of small sculpture which flourished during the sixteenth century, developing into diminutive, self-contained artistic venues which displayed inventive virtuosity in depictions of classical and mythological subject matter. This distinctive group of objects is usually classified with other decorative utensils and portable bronzes as manifested in the survey of the literary tradition which discusses small bronzes. As the first art object a visitor to a Renaissance household would encounter, the doorknocker could reveal several pieces of information such as the family's arms, their city of origin, and possibly their metier or station in life. Initially produced to serve a functional yet decorative purpose on the doors of Renaissance palazzi, in the early decades of the sixteenth century doorknockers started becoming collectible items and were also produced for display in collector's cabinets.;The preliminary chapters focus on production of small bronze sculpture; a survey of doorknocker types; and the individual elements which compose the doorknockers. Following is an analysis of the iconography and heraldry which were used by the sculptors for their patrons. The body of the dissertation is a topographical catalogue of doorknockers organized alphabetically by city. Each entry includes dimensions, casting technique and detailed descriptions, followed by provenance, literature, exhibition history, and variants which are cross referenced to each other. Attributions to various artists are in most cases conjectural as none of the doorknockers are signed.;Because the proposed field includes a vast number of examples in the United States and Europe, this dissertation comprises a limited study of select art works which will be the foundation for an inventorial corpus. The current investigation includes all available statistical information on the objects in the catalogue. Study of Italian bronze doorknockers demonstrates the creative and complex way in which small, functional objects are taken to new artistic levels in the hands of talented and imaginative sculptors.