Statuette

This terracotta statue is a sketch model for a posthumous marble statue of Antonio I. Martinengo (d.1473) erected on the staircase of the Palazzo Martinengo della Fabbrica at Brescia. The statue was commissioned by Conte Girolamo III di Silvio Martinengo (1686-1765), a Venetian senator and official, who was responsible for completing the reconstruction of the palazzo, and completed in 1764. The suit of armour represented in the model, traditionally supposed to have belonged to Antonio I, is preserved in the Armeria Reale at Turin. There is no record of the name of the sculptor of the statue. According to Sansovino, Antonio I Martinengo (d. 1473) was active as a condottiere in the service of the Venetian Republic in 1436-43, and in return for his services was created "gentilhuomo Vinitiano" and awarded an annual sum for himself and his descendants.