BOSTON, MA.- Today, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum celebrates the relationship between artist and patron with a major international exhibition, Raphael, Cellini, and a Renaissance Banker: The Patronage of Bindo Altoviti. This historic, scholarly exhibition focuses on the activities of Bindo Altoviti, an important Renaissance banker, papal courtier, and influential politician, as well as a lover of music and an influential collector of art. Including outstanding Renaissance paintings, sculptures, drawings, medals and manuscripts—mostly drawn from Altoviti’s own collection—this intimate and focused exhibition examines the artistic patronage of Bindo Altoviti, providing a comprehensive look at his social, financial and political life. The exhibition, generously supported by UBS, also addresses broader issues about bankers as patrons during the Renaissance.

“This exhibition offers visitors and scholars opportunities to delve deeper into themes emanating from the riches of the Italian Renaissance and the great impact of one individual on arts and patronage,” says Anne Hawley, Norma Jean Calderwood Director. “It is a particularly exciting and fitting tribute to Mrs. Gardner’s continuing legacy this year, as her remarkable Museum celebrates its Centennial.” 

Exhibition sponsor, UBS, echoes this sentiment. “UBS understands the great value of supporting the arts and artists,” said Mark B. Sutton, President, UBS Financial Services Inc. “It is for this reason that UBS is pleased to support this exhibition at the Gardner Museum, particularly during the Museum’s Centennial celebration, and in Boston, where UBS has a 125-year history and nearly 500 employees.”

Raphael, Cellini, and a Renaissance Banker: The Patronage of Bindo Altoviti is organized by the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston) and will travel to the Museo Nazionale del Bargello (Florence, Italy). The exhibition is co-curated by Alan Chong, Curator of the Collection at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, in collaboration with Italian sculpture scholar Dimitrios Zikos and Renaissance scholar Donatella Pegazzano. The exhibition includes paintings, sculpture, drawings and decorative arts on loan from the British Museum (London), Galleria degli Uffizi (Florence), Museo Nazionale del Bargello (Florence), National Gallery of Art (Washington), Pierpont Morgan Library (New York) and other museums; as well as several private collections.

BINDO ALTOVITI - Bindo Altoviti was one of the most powerful and wealthy bankers in Renaissance Italy, and a distinguished patron of the arts. A great rival of the Medici family, Altoviti was born into an important Florentine family living in Rome. His life was shaped by pressing issues of the time: shifting political alliances; the central role of bankers in Italian society; and the complex realities of living in exile. At the age of 16, Altoviti inherited his father’s bank, instantly becoming one of the most influential bankers in Italy. Altoviti was also a renowned patron of the arts and developed close relationships with leading Renaissance artists, including Raphael, Cellini, Vasari and Michelangelo. Like Isabella Stewart Gardner, who presented performances by musicians and dancers at Fenway Court, Altoviti supported Renaissance musicians, composers and performers. His stature in society also bestowed tremendous power and influence in civil and political matters.

Raphael, Cellini, and a Renaissance Banker: The Patronage of Bindo Altoviti brings together 24 Renaissance works – mostly drawn from Altoviti’s own personal collection – including an early portrait of the banker by Raphael and the only two monumental bronze portrait busts ever created by Benvenuto Cellini – one depicting Cosimo I de’ Medici, duke of Florence; the other, Bindo Altoviti, a republican opposed to Cosimo’s rule. This exhibition represents the first time these two Cellini busts are shown together – and the first time Cellini’s Cosimo de’ Medici has ever been exhibited in the United States.

“The Patronage of Bindo Altoviti examines the life and influence of one of the Renaissance’s most important – though historically overlooked – patrons,” says Alan Chong, Curator of the Collection. “An important advisor to the pope and great rival of the Medici, Bindo Altoviti devoted much of his influence in support of the republican cause. As an arts patron, he also inspired two of the most striking portraits of the 16th century, works that starkly contrast in age and media.” These two portraits by Raphael and Cellini have not been together for more than 200 years.

The exhibition begins with an early portrait of Bindo Altoviti by Raphael (ca. 1512, National Gallery of Art, Washington), painted shortly after Altoviti inherited his father’s bank. Raphael portrays Altoviti as an ideal, graceful Florentine youth. The portrait exemplifies Raphael’s mature style and is a beautiful depiction of Altoviti in his early career.

Benvenuto Cellini – Pair of Monumental Bronze Portrait Busts | Portrait of Bindo Altoviti, 1549 (Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston) & Portrait of Cosimo de’ Medici, ca. 1545-48 (Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence) In contrast to Raphael’s early portrait is the monumental bronze portrait bust by Benvenuto Cellini (Portrait of Bindo Altoviti, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, 1549). Cellini’s portrayal of Altoviti shows the banker in middle-age, at the height of his power, and as a more mature, contemplative figure.

“Cellini’s Bindo Altoviti bronze is remarkable in its portrayal of the banker as a humanist, devoted to worldly affairs,” says Chong. The bust is the only certain sculpture by Cellini and one of the most important Renaissance bronzes in the United States. Recently discovered documents date the work to 1549. Cellini created just one other monumental bronze bust, Portrait of Cosimo de’ Medici (Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence, ca. 1545-48) depicts Altoviti’s great rival Cosimo de’ Medici. Quite different from Altoviti’s humanistic portrayal, Cosimo de’ Medici is a public and militaristic figure, aggressive and almost overwhelming in its grandeur. This contrast implies a great deal about Altoviti’s standing in Renaissance society and political landscape and provides interesting insight into this political rivalry.

Majolica Marriage Service, showing the Arms of the Altoviti and Soderini Families, ca. 1524 (Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, United Kingdom) Objects and decorative arts representative of Bindo Altoviti’s life are also exhibited – including one of the first examples of a marriage service, a ceramic plate showing the joint arms of the Altoviti and Soderini families (Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, ca. 1524). This piece commemorates Altoviti’s marriage into the prominent Soderini family in 1511, when he married Fiammetta Soderini, the grand-niece of Piero Soderini, the ruler of Republican Florence. An opponent of the Medici family, Piero Soderini was himself an enlightened patron; he commissioned Michelangelo’s David for the city of Florence.

Other objects in the exhibition – including additional paintings, sculpture, bronze medals, manuscripts and drawings based on works in Altoviti’s collection and representing Renaissance artists Girolamo da Carpi, Pirro Ligorio, Domenico Poggini, Francesco Salviati, Jacopo Sansovino and Giorgio Vasari – reveal much about Altoviti’s artistic patronage, tastes, personality and intellectual and religious beliefs.

A catalogue of the exhibition, Raphael, Cellini, and a Renaissance Banker: The Patronage of Bindo Altoviti (Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 2003) provides a more in-depth look at the patronage of Bindo Altoviti, as well as his social, financial and political life during the Renaissance. Edited by Alan Chong, Curator of the Collection, the catalogue broadens the scope of the exhibition by providing opportunities for scholars to explore aspects of the commission, conception and creation of art in the Renaissance, and Altoviti’s role as a prominent banker and rival of the Medici family. The catalogue will be published in English and Italian editions and will be released in Fall 2003.