SORMANI, Leonardo
(active 1551, d. 1589, Roma)

Statue of St Peter on the Column of Trajan

1587
Bronze, height 400 cm
Foro Traiano, Rome

As part of the extensive rebuilding of Rome, Pope Sixtus V capped the Trajan's Column with a large bronze statue of St Peter in 1587. The artist for the statue, Leonardo Sormani, was part of a stable of artists and architects whom Sixtus used for his numerous projects. Essentially as house artists, they worked well together and understood their patron's wishes. Although working on different projects, they belonged essentially to a large workshop directed by Sixtus's master architect, Domenico Fontana, and controlled by the pope.

Sormani's muscular St Peter has an active striding pose, the figure turning on axis as he extends his keys into space. The exaggerated facial features, perhaps necessitated by the great height of the figure from the ground, recall those of earlier papal images.




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