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| Anonymous Italian sculptor Arms of Pope Alexander VI (Rodrigo Borgia) ca. 1500 marble relief Philadelphia Museum of Art |
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| Antonio Lombardo Philoctetes on the Island of Lemnos ca. 1510-15 marble relief, with colored panels of breccia marble Victoria & Albert Museum |
"The relief represents Philoctetes, son of Poeas, King of the Malians. According to the version of the myth recorded by Servius, which is that illustrated in the relief, Philoctetes, having accidentally injured himself on the journey to Troy with one of the arrows of Hercules, was abandoned by his companions on Lemnos because of the stench of his wound. The bow and arrows of Hercules are shown in the right background of the relief: they were presented to Philoctetes or his father in return for lighting the funeral pyre of Hercules on Mount Oeta, and were later instrumental in effecting the fall of Troy. Philoctetes, a bearded male nude carved almost in the round, is seated on a tree trunk which rises from the platform. He faces to the left with his right leg extended across the relief and his right foot raised on the projecting step. With his left hand he clasps the tree trunk, and with his right he fans the inflamed wound in his right calf with a bird's wing. The popularity of this relief is reflected in the survival of three modified variants. These are in the Hermitage, the Palazzo Ducale at Mantua and a private collection in London. The basic composition of the relief is related to an antique cameo of the same subject, signed by the Hellenistic artist Boethos, while the figure itself is derived from the Belvedere Torso in the Vatican."
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| Antonio Lombardo Venus Anadyomene ca. 1510-15 marble relief Victoria & Albert Museum |
"This relief formed part of a cycle of carvings of mythological figures by Lombardo. The inscription on the base is the last pentameter of a passage in Ovid in which the poet describes a gem incised with the image of Venus rising from the sea – Naked Venus wrings spray from her hair. It was a signal to the learned viewer to recall the full passage. Pope-Hennessy claims that the figure derives directly from that of Giorgione's paintings, stating that "nowhere in marble is the search for a three dimensional equivalent to Giorgione's voluptuous figures as clearly to be read as it is here." Peta Motture describes the composition as apparently based on descriptions of a lost work by the Greek painter Apelles, which also inspired Botticelli's Birth of Venus."
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| circle of Antonio Lombardo Eurydice ca. 1515-24 marble relief Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
"This relief evokes the love between the classical scholar Gaspare Fantuzzi (ca. 1465/70-1536) and his wife Dorotea Castelli, who were both members of patrician families in Bologna and were married in 1502. The inscription on the reverse of the first version of the Eurydice, in which the faithful wife of Orestes is bitten by a snake, reads – Gaspare Fantuzzi of Bologna dedicates this to the most sweet alliance of marriage and conjugal love. This work must have been commissioned by Fantuzzi himself to celebrate his marriage."
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| imitator of Donatello Dead Christ tended by Angels ca. 1520-40 marble relief (rilievo schiacciato) Victoria & Albert Museum |
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| Anonymous Italian sculptor Tondo with Sacrifice to Apollo ca. 1525-75 marble relief Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
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| Loy Hering The Fall ca. 1530-35 Solnhofen limestone relief Victoria & Albert Museum |
"This is a relief in Solnhofen limestone made by Loy Hering in about 1530-35 in Eichstätt in the Franconian area of South Germany. It depicts the Fall of Man. Loy Hering (ca. 1485-1554) worked in Eichstätt for nearly forty years. In Eichstätt, as in Augsburg, Nuremberg, and numerous other South German cities, there existed a great demand for small-scale sculptures in materials such as Solnhofen stone. The composition showing Adam and Even in the Garden of Eden is adapted from a woodcut by Hans Baldung, dated 1511. The relief may have formed part of a cabinet of curiosities."
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| Benedetto Cervi Warrior in Procession toward a Contest ca. 1531-32 marble relief Victoria & Albert Museum |
"This is one of three reliefs which might have formed part of a monument intended for King Francis I of France. The original commission went to Agostino Busti (called Bambala), who was an established master, but he sub-contracted the work to Benedetto Cervi, a former assistant. Cervi was known for his skill in carving reliefs in the classical manner, with some parts entirely in the round."
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| Benedetto Cervi Two Warriors shooting at the Sun ca. 1531-32 marble relief Victoria & Albert Museum |
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| Benedetto Cervi Youth leading a rearing Horse ca. 1531-32 marble relief Victoria & Albert Museum |
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| Giovanni Maria Mosca Lucretia ca. 1550 marble relief with lapis lazuli panel Walters Art Museum, Baltimore |
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| Anonymous Italian sculptor Battle Scene ca. 1550 marble relief Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
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| Anonymous Netherlandish sculptor Entombment ca. 1550-1600 alabaster relief Victoria & Albert Museum |
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| Anonymous German or Netherlandish sculptor Crucifixion ca. 1580 alabaster relief Victoria & Albert Museum |
– quoted texts based on curator's notes from the respective museums