Background
Andrea del Verrocchio was born circa 1435 in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. He was the son of Michele di Francesco Cio, a brick and tile maker.
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Andrea del Verrocchio was born circa 1435 in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. He was the son of Michele di Francesco Cio, a brick and tile maker.
Nothing is known about his early training. He was at first apprenticed to a goldsmith. It has been suggested that he was later apprenticed to Donatello, but there is no evidence of this and John Pope-Hennessy considered that it is contradicted by the style of his early works. It has been suggested that he was trained as a painter under Fra Filippo Lippi.
Later on in his life, Andrea del verrocchio was a painter and later was a sculptor in 1465, underhe patronage of Piero de Medici. When he was a sculptor he had a master named Donatello. It was said that he was the best sculptor during the Renaissance. Under the patronage of the Medici family he made costumes and decorative armour for their festivals.
In 1467 Cosimo de' Medici was buried in a tomb that had been commissioned from Verrocchio two years earlier. In 1471 he completed the tomb for Giovanni and Piero de' Medici in the old sacristy of the family church of S. Lorenzo in Florence. The rich marble, porphyry, and bronze sarcophagus is framed by a marble arch and backedby a bronze grille in the form of interlaced ropes; it is one of the most original creations of the period.
An early masterpiece in bronze, "David", a pensive, boyish figure in leather jerkin and skirt, triumphant over Goliath, was commissioned by Lorenzo de' Medici for his villa at Careggi. He sold "David" to the Signory of Florence in 1476.
In 1477 Verrocchio competed with Piero Pollaiuolo for the monument of Cardinal Niccolò Forteguerri in Pistoia. Although Pollaiuolo's design was accepted, Lorenzo de' Medici ordered the one by Verrocchio executed. In the same year he presented two models for reliefs for the altar of S. Giovanni in the Baptistery of Florence; one, the Beheading of John the Baptist, was accepted and finished in 1480.
In 1478 Verrocchio began work on his most famous statue. It is a "equestrian statue", a statue of a man on horseback. The statue was made for the Republic of Venice in memory of a famous soldier who had lead military troops many times when Venice was at war. His name was Bartolomeo Colleoni, and he had died in 1475. Verrocchio moved to Venice in 1483 and died there five years later.
Andrea del Verrocchio was one of the most important Renaissance sculptors of the Florentine Renaissance, ranking alongside Donatello and Michelangelo. He was known for his quattrocento classical style, Verrocchio's most acclaimed work of Renaissance sculpture is his gilded bronze statue of Bartolomeo Colleoni. His pupils included Leonardo da Vinci, Ghirlandaio, Perugino and Sandro Botticelli.
His works were exhibited at The National Gallery, London and at The British Museum. Several works by the artist have been sold at auction, including 'Drapery study of a kneeling figure facing left' sold at Sotheby's London 'Old Master & British Paintings Evening Sale' in 2014 for $3,019,008.
Andrea del Verrocchio was a member of the Guild of St. Luke.
Andrea del Verrocchio was never married.
