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| Johann Gregor van der Schardt Self-portrait 1573 painted terracotta Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
Johann Gregor van der Schardt was born at Nijmegen around 1530. He studied and worked in Italy during the 1560s. In 1569 he became court artist to the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II, serving until Maximilian's death in 1576. Van der Schardt is known to have taken a post at the Danish court during the later 1570s. The 1580s are scarcely documented, with no known works surviving, even though the artist is believed to have lived into the 1590s.
In order to make the self-portrait above, "the sculptor had to resort to all kinds of tricks with a mirror," according to curators at the Rijksmuseum. They also maintain that this bust – made about half life-size – represents one of the earliest self-portraits by a sculptor in European art.
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| Johann Gregor van der Schardt Portrait-bust of Johann Neudorfer the Younger ca. 1570-80 painted terracotta Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
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| Johann Gregor van der Schardt Portrait-medallion of an unknown man ca. 1575-80 painted terracotta Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
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| Johann Gregor van der Schardt after Michelangelo copy of Night from the Medici Chapel, Florence 1560s terracotta Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
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| Johann Gregor van der Schardt after Michelangelo copy of Dawn from the Medici Chapel, Florence 1560s terracotta Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
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| Johann Gregor van der Schardt Study-model - Torso ca. 1560-70 terracotta Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
"This group of small models of parts of the body are carefully copied after famous sculptures, in particular by Michelangelo, in Florence and Rome. They came from the workshop of the Nijmegen sculptor Johann Gregor van der Schardt, who had a successful career in Italy, Nuremberg, and Copenhagen. They are extremely rare examples of the, in part autograph, study material of a 16th-century sculptor."
– curator's notes from the Rijksmuseum
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| Johann Gregor van der Schardt Study-model after Michelangelo Right Leg ca. 1560-70 terracotta Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
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| Johann Gregor van der Schardt Study-model after Michelangelo Left Arm ca. 1560-70 terracotta Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
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| Johann Gregor van der Schardt Study-model after Michelangelo Leg with Greave ca. 1560-70 terracotta Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
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| Johann Gregor van der Schardt Study-model after Michelangelo Right Arm ca. 1560-70 terracotta Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
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| Johann Gregor van der Schardt Study-model after Michelangelo Right Hand ca. 1560-70 terracotta Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
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| Johann Gregor van der Schardt Study-model after Michelangelo Left hand ca. 1560-70 terracotta Rijkmsueum, Amsterdam |
"Now, having arrived in Bologna, he had scarcely drawn off his riding-boots when he was conducted by the Pope's servants to his Holiness, who was in the Palazzo de' Sedici; and he was accompanied by a Bishop sent by Cardinal Soderini, because the Cardinal being ill, was not able to go himself. Having come into the presence of the Pope, Michelangelo knelt down, but his Holiness looked askance at him, as if in anger, and said to him, 'Instead of coming yourself to meet us, you have waited for us to come to meet you!' meaning to infer that Bologna is nearer to Florence than to Rome. Michelangelo, with a courtly gesture of the hands, but in a firm voice, humbly begged for pardon, saying in excuse that he had acted as he had done in anger, not being able to endure to be driven away so abruptly, but that, if he had erred, his Holiness should once more forgive him. The Bishop who had presented Michelangelo to his Holiness, making excuse for him, said to the Pope that such men were ignorant creatures, that they were worth nothing save in their own art, and that he should freely pardon him. The Pope, seized with anger, belaboured the Bishop with a staff that he had in his hand, saying to him, 'It is you that are ignorant, who level insults at him that we ourselves do not think of uttering;' and then the Bishop was driven out by the groom with fisticuffs. When he had gone, the Pope, having discharged his anger upon him, gave Michelangelo his benediction . . . "
– from the Life of Michelangelo Buonarroti: Painter, Sculptor, and Architect of Florence (1568) by Giorgio Vasari, translated by Gaston du C. de Vere and published in English in 1912
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| Johann Gregor van der Schardt Flora ca. 1570-75 fire-gilt brass Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna |
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| Johann Gregor van der Schardt Sol (the Sun) ca. 1570 bronze Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |