Dido

In a sparse setting, featuring only a bare tree trunk with two shields and a hanging scroll as well as a burning funeral pyre in the foreground, stands the dignified figure of Dido. She is depicted just before her suicide, prompted by Aeneas’ abandonment. 
The composition originates from a renowned engraving by Marcantonio Raimondi, which is based on a drawing by Raphael created during the era of Julius II. 
The small relief was first published by Leo Planiscig (1932, 923–924) as a work by Andrea Briosco, also known as Il Riccio. This relief, along with the plaque depicting the Satyr currently housed in the Cleveland Museum of Art (inv. 1947.29), exhibits similar technical and stylistic features. Both works derive ideologically from early sixteenth-century Roman engraving models.
The attribution to Riccio, though widely accepted by many scholars until recently, was promptly questioned by Adolfo Venturi (1935, 49), who attributed this plaque and the one with the Satyr to Giovanni Maria Mosca (1495/1499–before December 1573). This view, intermittently referenced in the past, has received substantial support in more recent studies, such as those by De Vincenti (2001, 232–233) and Cannata (2003, 441–442; 2009, 72–73; 2011, 53–54). Notably, Cannata had previously been among the proponents of the Riccio attribution (Cannata 1981, 240–241; Cannata 1982, 60–61). 
The work seamlessly integrates into Mosca’s oeuvre, displaying notable stylistic and technical resemblances to the Satyr in Cleveland, the marble Porzia in the Giorgio Franchetti Gallery at the Ca’ d’Oro in Venice, and the Chastity on the reverse of the medal created for Isabella, Princess of Poland. The latter shares similarities with Dido in its employment of a Raphaelesque model. 
The relevance of Dido to Mosca’s production is indicated by the differences in language and execution found between the work in Palazzo Venezia and the two reliefs with the same subject signed by Riccio, which are preserved in the British Museum in London and the Bode Museum in Berlin. Cannata (2011, 54) has suggested that a small circular relief in the Museo Correr in Venice, generally considered a derivative replica of the bronze in Palazzo Venezia, is an autograph by Mosca.

Lorenzo D'Amici

Entry published on 12 June 2025

Good.

Venice, Collezione Donà dalle Rose;
Rome, Collezione Auriti, purchased after 1934;
Rome, Museo Nazionale di Palazzo Venezia, 1964. 

Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Kleinkunst der italienischen Renaissance, 1923, no. 35;
London, Victoria & Albert Museum, Italian Bronze Statuettes, 1961, no. 69;
Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, Meesters van het brons der italiaanse Renaissance, 1961-1962, no. 65;
Florence, Palazzo Strozzi, Bronzetti italiani del Rinascimento, February–March 1962;
Rome, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, Virgilio nell’arte e nella cultura europea, September 24–November 24, 1981;
Rome, Museo Nazionale di Palazzo Venezia, Rilievi e placchette dal XV al XVIII secolo, February–April 1982;
Padua, Musei Civici, Donatello e il suo tempo. Il bronzetto a Padova nel Quattrocento e nel Cinquecento, April 8–July 15, 2001;
Athens, Ethniki Pinakothiki-Mouseio Alexandrou Soutzou, In the Light of Apollo. Italian Renaissance and Greece, December 22, 2003–March 31, 2004.

Molinier Émile, Les bronzes de la Renaissance: les plaquettes. Catalogue raisonné, Paris 1886, pp. 168-208, n. 232; 
Planiscig Leo, La Collezione Giacinto Auriti, Wien 1931, n. 57; dattiloscritto inedito (Archivio Palazzo Venezia)
Planiscig Leo, Per il quarto centenario della morte di Tullio Lombardo e di Andrea Riccio, in «Dedalo», 1932, pp. 901-924;
Lorenzetti Guido, Planiscig Leo, La collezione dei Conti Donà dalle Rose a Venezia, Venezia 1934, p. 49, n. 239; 
Venturi Adolfo, Storia dell'arte italiana. La scultura del Cinquecento, Milano 1935, X/1, p. 436;
Bronzetti italiani del Rinascimento, catalogo della mostra (Firenze, Palazzo Strozzi, febbraio-marzo 1962), Firenze 1962, n. 64;
Santangelo Antonino, Museo di Palazzo Venezia. La collezione Auriti, Roma 1964, p. 34;
Mariacher Giovanni, Bronzetti veneti del Rinascimento, Vicenza 1971, p. 28, n. 72;
Cannata, in Fagiolo Maurizio (a cura di), Virgilio nell'arte e nella cultura Europea, catalogo della mostra (Roma, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, 24 settembre-24 novembre 1981), Roma 1981, pp. 240-241, nn. 9-11;  
Cannata Pietro (a cura di), Rilievi e placchette dal XV al XVIII secolo, catalogo della mostra (Roma, Museo Nazionale di Palazzo Venezia, febbraio-aprile 1982), Roma, 1982, pp. 60-61, n. 45;
De Vincenti Monica, Gastaldi Elisabetta, Donatello e il suo tempo. Il bronzetto a Padova nel Quattrocento e nel Cinquecento, catalogo della mostra (Padova, Musei Civici, 8 aprile-15 luglio 2001), Milano 2001, p. 232, n. 63;
Cannata, in Gregori Mina (a cura di), In the Light of Apollo. Italian Renaissance and Greece, catalogo della mostra (Atene, Ethniki Pinakothiki-Mouseio Alexandrou Soutzou, 22 dicembre 2003-31 marzo 2004), Cinisello Balsamo 2003, pp. 441-442, n. X. 24;
Cannata, in Barberini  Maria Giulia, Sconci Maria Selene (a cura di), Guida al Museo Nazionale del Palazzo di Venezia, Roma 2009, pp. 72-73, n. 72;
Cannata Pietro, Museo Nazionale del Palazzo di Venezia. Sculture in bronzo. III, Roma 2011, pp. 53-54.