Vincenzo Onofri Artwork valuations, appraisals and auction estimates

Vincenzo Onofri (known between 1493 and 1524; Bologna, ... – ...) was an Italian sculptor who, in Bologna, distinguished himself in sacred art, mainly with the execution of works in terracotta. Read the full biography

Vincenzo Onofri (known between 1493 and 1524; Bologna, ... – ...) was an Italian sculptor who, in Bologna, distinguished himself in sacred art, mainly with the execution of works in terracotta. Together with Guido Mazzoni, Niccolò dell'Arca and the younger Alfonso Lombardi, he was one of the sculptors who, in Emilia (a land without marble quarries), brought terracotta sculpture to a very notable artistic level. His most famous work is perhaps the Lamentation over the Dead Christ in the Basilica of San Petronio (ca 1493-1500) placed in a niche of an apse pillar. The work is in the wake of Guido Mazzoni, but clearly suggests how Vincenzo absorbed the lesson of the Ferrarese painters who arrived in Bologna: the dramatic face of the Magdalene seems to be the terracotta translation of the fresco by Ercole de' Roberti which was then in the Garganelli Chapel in San Pietro; but there are also stylistic affinities (and color application procedures) with Lorenzo Costa, active in those years in San Petronio. The lack of critical attention received by the Bolognese modeller until a few decades ago prevented an in-depth evaluation of his artistic career. Among the other works created by Onofri we can mention: the funeral monument to bishop Cesare Nacci (1504), also in San Petronio; the small altar in the shape of a terracotta temple with the Madonna and Child between Saints Lorenzo and Eustachio (1503); the Bust of Virgilio Bargellini at the Davia Bargellini Museum; the Sarcophagus of Canon Antonio Busi (1506) in the sanctuary of Santa Maria del Poggio near San Giovanni in Persiceto. A Saint Lucia is located in the Bode Museum in Berlin. The Istrian stone statues depicting San Pietro Martire and San Bernardino da Siena preserved in the municipal art gallery of Faenza are also attributed to Onofri.