Pomponio Gaurico und die leoninen Krieger: Physiognomik als Paradigma

Abstract This essay examines how Pomponio Gaurico’s treatise De sculptura, published in 1504, attempted to establish a new visual language for sculptors based on physiognomic treatises handed down from antiquity. By including physiognomics among the fundamental elements of disegno, the young writer expanded its potential from a system of interpretation to a means of representation. It will be argued that the most significant pattern to arise from this new approach was the idealised leonine warrior that originated in the typified equestrian statues of Donatello and Verrocchio, and culminated in sculptures executed by Gaurico’s friends Tullio Lombardo and Andrea Riccio – presumably under the impression of his ideas.