Willem Danielsz. van Tetrode, known in Italy as Guglielmo Fiammingo (before c. 1530, Delft — after 1587), was a sixteenth-century sculptor of Dutch origin who served as a pupil of Benvenuto Cellini in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...

. On his return to Delft in the Netherlands in 1567–68, it has been suggested that he may have trained the young

Adriaen de Vries Adriaen de Vries (c.1556–1626) was a Northern Mannerist sculptor born in the Netherlands but working in Central Europe, whose international style crossed the threshold to the Baroque; he excelled in refined modelling and bronze casting and ...

and encouraged him to go to Florence.

Life and work

Willem, as he still was, is documented at the court of

François I Francis I (french: François Ier; frm, Francoys; 12 September 1494 – 31 March 1547) was King of France from 1515 until his death in 1547. He was the son of Charles, Count of Angoulême, and Louise of Savoy. He succeeded his first cousin once ...

by his late teens, which provides the most reasonable place for him to have met Benvenuto Cellini, who left the French court and returned to Florence in 1545. He is documented in the Florentine workshop of Cellini in 1549–50; he was among the sculptors who worked on the marble base for Cellini's ''Perseus with the Head of Medusa'' in Florence. In Rome a surviving letter of Guglielmo's records Cellini's distaste and contempt for restoring antique

Roman sculpture The study of Roman sculpture is complicated by its relation to Greek sculpture. Many examples of even the most famous Greek sculptures, such as the Apollo Belvedere and Barberini Faun, are known only from Roman Imperial or Hellenistic "copies". A ...

. In about 1549 Guglielmo restored an antique fragmentary torso as a ''Ganymede'' for

Cosimo I de' Medici Cosimo I de' Medici (12 June 1519 – 21 April 1574) was the second Duke of Florence from 1537 until 1569, when he became the first Grand Duke of Tuscany, a title he held until his death. Life Rise to power Cosimo was born in Florence on 12 ...

. In Rome he worked under the direction of

Guglielmo della Porta Guglielmo della Porta (c. 1500–1577) was an Italian architect and sculptor of the late Renaissance or Mannerist period. He was born to a prominent North Italian family of masons, sculptors and architects. His father Giovanni Battista della Por ...

, restoring antiquities for the

Cortile del Belvedere The (Belvedere Courtyard or Belvedere Court) was a major architectural work of the High Renaissance at the Vatican Palace in Rome. Designed by Donato Bramante from 1505 onward, its concept and details reverberated in courtyard design, formalized ...

and other Vatican projects. On his return to Florence in 1562, Guglielmo reminded Cosimo of his former work on the ''Ganymede'', The work in question, executed under Cellini's direction and commonly attributed to him, shows uncommonly refined cutting; Anthony Radcliffe remarked "it must be asked to what extent the beautiful statue now in the Bargello is the product of the technical skill of Willem van Tetrode".

Giorgio Vasari Giorgio Vasari (, also , ; 30 July 1511 – 27 June 1574) was an Italian Renaissance Master, who worked as a painter, architect, engineer, writer, and historian, who is best known for his work '' The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculp ...

records a writing cabinet adorned with bronze replicas of the antique ''

Dioscuri Castor; grc, Κάστωρ, Kástōr, beaver. and Pollux. (or Polydeukes). are twin half-brothers in Greek and Roman mythology, known together as the Dioscuri.; grc, Διόσκουροι, Dióskouroi, sons of Zeus, links=no, from ''Dîos'' ( ...

'', the ''

Apollo Belvedere The ''Apollo Belvedere'' (also called the ''Belvedere Apollo, Apollo of the Belvedere'', or ''Pythian Apollo'') is a celebrated marble sculpture from Classical Antiquity. The ''Apollo'' is now thought to be an original Roman creation of Hadri ...

'', the ''

Farnese Hercules The ''Farnese Hercules'' ( it, Ercole Farnese) is an ancient statue of Hercules, probably an enlarged copy made in the early third century AD and signed by Glykon, who is otherwise unknown; the name is Greek but he may have worked in Rome. Like ...

'' and the ''

Venus de' Medici The Venus de' Medici or Medici Venus is a tall Hellenistic marble sculpture depicting the Greek goddess of love Aphrodite. It is a 1st-century BC marble copy, perhaps made in Athens, of a bronze original Greek sculpture, following the type of th ...

'' and at least sixteen other statuettes by Fiammingo; it was commissioned by Nicolò Orsini, conte di Pitigliano and completed in 1559, intended as a diplomatic gift for Philip II of Spain. The desk was eventually dismantled, and the bronzes are conserved in the Bargello (the bronzes identified by Anna Maria Massinelli in 1987 and exhibited at the Bargello in Florence in 1989, with the catalogue edited by Massinelli), six were included in a 2003 exhibition curated by

Frits Scholten Frits Scholten (born 1959 in Hengelo, Netherlands) is a Dutch art historian specialising in art of the Netherlands from the late Middle Ages until 1800, and sculpture from the 15th to 19th centuries. Currently he is Head of Department of Sculpture ...

, "Willem van Tetrode (c. 1525-1580): Bronze Sculptures of the Renaissance", which was mounted by the Rijksmuseum; it travelled to the Frick Collection, New York, and brought the sculptor into some focus. Three of the bronze fauns on Bartolommeo Ammanati's ''Fountain of Neptune'' that were long attributed to Guglielmo Fiammingo cannot be his, since their facture is documented as being begun in March 1571 and finished in June 1575, by which time, Anthony Radcliffe has pointed out, van Tetrode was back in Delft by 1566–67; there in 1568 he signed a contract for the new high altar in the Oude Kerk, which he finished in 1573. In 1574-75 he was in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

. It now appears that Tetrode was a seminal figure in introducing to the Netherlands the small-scale bronze sculpture, suited to a collector's study. An

engraving Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an in ...

was published by

Hendrick Goltzius Hendrick Goltzius, or Hendrik, (; ; January or February 1558 – 1 January 1617) was a German-born Dutch printmaker, draftsman, and painter. He was the leading Dutch engraver of the early Baroque period, or Northern Mannerism, lauded for his s ...

of a design for a silver salver by Tetrode. Anthony Radcliffe explored possible connections between the two artists. Until recently, little has been written in English of the enigmatic figure of Willem Tetrode/Guglielmo Fiammingo.An article was devoted to him by Marguérite Devigne, "Le sculpteur Willem Danielsz. van Tetrode dit en Italie Guglielmo Fiammingo", ''Oud Holland'' 56 (1939).

Notes

External links

Vermeer and The Delft School
a full text exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which contains material on Willem Danielsz van Tetrode {{DEFAULTSORT:Tetrode, Willem Danielsz. van 1520s births 1580s deaths 16th-century sculptors Dutch sculptors Dutch male sculptors Artists from Delft