Pierino da Vinci (; –1553/54), born Pier Francesco di Bartolomeo di Ser Piero da Vinci, was an Italian sculptor, born in the small town of Vinci in Tuscany; he was the nephew of

Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 1452 - 2 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially rested o ...

. The son of Bartolomeo da Vinci, Leonardo’s younger half-brother, Pierino demonstrated artistic ability at an early age; and was seen by his family as the heir to his uncle's talent. He studied under both

Baccio Bandinelli Baccio Bandinelli (also called Bartolomeo Brandini; 12 November 1493 – shortly before 7 February 1560), was an Italian Renaissance sculptor, draughtsman, and painter. Biography Bandinelli was the son of a prominent Florentine goldsmith, ...

(1488–1560) and

Niccolò Tribolo Niccolò di Raffaello di Niccolò dei Pericoli, called "Il Tribolo" (1500 – 7 September 1550) was an Italian Mannerism, Mannerist artist in the service of Cosimo I de' Medici in his natal city of Florence. Life Niccolò di Raffaello began as ...

(1500–1550). Pierino died from malarial fever at the age of 23, in

Pisa Pisa ( ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Tuscany, Central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for the Leaning Tow ...

, in 1553-4. The biographical information about this artist comes almost exclusively from ''

Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects ''The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects'' () is a series of artist biographies written by 16th-century Italian painter and architect Giorgio Vasari, which is considered "perhaps the most famous, and even today the ...

'' by

Giorgio Vasari Giorgio Vasari (30 July 1511 – 27 June 1574) was an Italian Renaissance painter, architect, art historian, and biographer who is best known for his work ''Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects'', considered the ideol ...

; this history of art and artists reports a mixture of fact and legend, making it difficult to establish reliable historical information about the subject, in the absence of other sources. A relief that was admired by Vasari and was long thought to be by

Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (6March 147518February 1564), known mononymously as Michelangelo, was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was inspir ...

was recently the subject of an unsuccessful effort to keep it in the United Kingdom when it came up for auction. According to Vasari, the relief was made by Pierino in 1549 for Luca Martini dell’Ala (1507–1561), who was then in Pisa in the service of

Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany Cosimo I de' Medici (12 June 1519 – 21 April 1574) was the second and last duke of Florence from 1537 until 1569, when he became the first grand duke of Tuscany, a title he held until his death. Cosimo I succeeded his cousin to the duchy. ...

. It depicts Ugolino and his sons. The work is now in the collection of the

Liechtenstein Museum The Gartenpalais Liechtenstein (eng.: Liechtenstein Garden Palace) is a baroque palace on Fürstengasse in Vienna's 9th district, Alsergrund. The palace is owned by the Princely Family of Liechtenstein, rulers of Liechtenstein. It sits on the sou ...

. Several sculptures, now believed to be by Pierino da Vinci, were at one time attributed to Michelangelo. His ''

Samson SAMSON (Software for Adaptive Modeling and Simulation Of Nanosystems) is a computer software platform for molecular design being developed bOneAngstromand previously by the NANO-D group at the French Institute for Research in Computer Science an ...

Slaying a

Philistine Philistines (; Septuagint, LXX: ; ) were ancient people who lived on the south coast of Canaan during the Iron Age in a confederation of city-states generally referred to as Philistia. There is compelling evidence to suggest that the Philist ...

'' (1551/52) is displayed at the

Palazzo Vecchio The ( "Old Palace") is the town hall of Florence, Italy. It overlooks the , which holds a copy of Michelangelo's ''David'' statue, and the gallery of statues in the adjacent Loggia dei Lanzi. Originally called the ''Palazzo della Signoria'', a ...

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

. ''Portrait of a Young Man'' (ca. 1550) by

Bronzino Agnolo di Cosimo (; 17 November 150323 November 1572), usually known as Bronzino ( ) or Agnolo Bronzino, was an Italians, Italian Mannerism, Mannerist painter from Florence. His sobriquet, ''Bronzino'', may refer to his relatively dark skin or r ...

is thought to be of him.

References

Bibliography

* Britta Kusch-Arnhold, ''Pierino da Vinci'', Beiträge zur Kunstgeschichte des Mittelalters und der Renaissance, vol. 14, Münster, Rhema-Verlag, 2008 (). * Cianchi, Marco, ''Pierino da Vinci: atti della giornata di studio, Vinci, Biblioteca leonardiana'', Firenze, Becocci, 1995. * Goguel, Catherine Monbeigl, ''Maestri toscani del Cinquecento: Michelangelo, Sansovino, Bandinelli, Jacone, Montorsoli, Salviati, Vasari, Dosio, Pierino da Vinci, Giambologna, etc.'', Firenze, Istituto Alinari, 1979. * Middeldorf, Ulrich, ''Additions to the Work of Pierino da Vinci'', The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs, Vol. 53, No. 309 (Dec., 1928), 298-306. * Rosi, Mino, ''Pierino da Vinci, Profilo Interpretativo'', Pisa, ETS, 2000. * Vasari, Giorgio, ''Le Vite delle più eccellenti pittori, scultori, ed architettori'', many editions and translations.

External links

Pierino da Vinci in ArtCyclopedia

Pierino da Vinci's "The Death of Count Ugolino Della Gherardesca and His Sons" at the Lichtenstein museum in Vienna, Austria
{{DEFAULTSORT:da Vinci, Pierino 16th-century Italian sculptors People from Vinci, Tuscany Italian male sculptors 1520s births 1550s deaths