Guido Mazzoni (sculptor)

Guido Mazzoni (c. 1445 – 1518, active 1473–1518) was an Italian sculptor and painter of the Renaissance period, working in Bologna, Naples and France.

Guido Mazzoni was born in Modena and first became active in that city, ruled at the time by the Este family of Ferrara. A case has been made for his early training in the studio of Francesco Cossa. His earliest recorded work appears in 1473, when he made theatrical masks and props for the Duke of Ferrara's wedding. He is known to have continued such ephemera of court life throughout his career, but is most famous for his ultra-realistic terracotta sculpture.

Mazzoni's best known works are a Lamentation (Compianto) now in the Church of Gesù, Ferrara, and another in the church of Sant'Anna dei Lombardi in Naples. These realistic lifesize figures are modelled in polychromed terracotta, for native stone was lacking in Modena; both represent emotive mourners gathered around the dead Christ, in which each character is a portrait of either the donor or a relative of the donor; in the Modena Lamentation, for instance, Ercole I d'Este represents Nicodemus and his wife Eleonor represents Mary of Cleophas. In the Neapolitan piece, Alfonso II is Joseph of Arimathea. It seems probable that Mazzoni's background in theatrical masks and props affected his work, because of the staged melodrama in their gestures and expressions. One attractive theory is that they relate to an annual passion play, in which these notable figures may have played some part.

In the more prestigious artistic centre of Florence the Della Robbia family became famous for their distinctive blue and white tin-glazed terracotta work, which was highly skilfully made yet provided relatively cheap decoration. Most closely related to the work of Mazzoni, however, is that of Niccolò dell'Arca, who operated in Bologna. He also made scenes of the lamentation, but his show an expressionist style, as the figures display an exaggerated sense of movement and drama. Mazzoni's figures are far more realistic and their movements and gestures are more restrained.

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