pupils included Fra BARTOLOMMEOand PIERO DI COSIMO.
He produced a number of fairly pedestrian works himself,
including frescoes in the cloister of the Annunziata and
the church of Sant’ Ambrosius in Florence. In 1481 he
was also commissioned to help with the frescoes for the
Sistine Chapel, despite the fact that few would class him
with such colleagues on the project as BOTTICELLIand
GHIRLANDAIO.
Rossellino, Bernardo (1409–1464) and Antonio
(1427–1479) Italian sculptors
The brothers were born in Settignano and worked in Flo-
rence, where Bernardo executed a number of architectural
works, including the Palazzo Rucellai (1446–51). His
masterpiece, however, is the Palazzo Piccolomini (1460–
63) in PIENZA. Bernardo’s most notable sculptural achieve-
ment is the tomb of Leonardo BRUNIin Sta. Croce in Flo-
rence (1444–47), which was based upon DONATELLO’s
classical tomb of Pope John XXII. He was also employed
for a time on work at St. Peter’s in Rome (1451–53) by
Pope Nicholas V.
Bernardo’s younger brother Antonio was also influ-
enced by Donatello and for a while was Bernardo’s pupil.
His greatest work, the tomb of the cardinal-prince of Por-
tugal in San Miniato al Monte in Florence (1461–66), was
highly innovative and more sophisticated than his
brother’s work. Other works by Antonio include the por-
trait busts of Giovanni Chellini (1456; Victoria and Albert
Museum, London) and of Matteo Palmieri (1468;
Bargello, Florence). Both brothers also executed decora-
tive works.
Rossi, Properzia de (c. 1490–1530) Italian sculptor and
painter
Born in Bologna, she studied drawing with Marcantonio
RAIMONDI. She became known for her skillful carving in
miniature—on peach, apricot or cherry stones—executing
a much-admired filigree coat of arms commissioned by the
Grassi family, and becoming adept at religious subjects,
such as the Crucifixion. In her thirties she began working
on life-sized sculptures and busts in marble and won com-
missions for bas-reliefs at the church of the Madonna del
Barracano in Bologna and at San Petronio in Rome. Rossi
was one of the earliest recorded women artists, and ac-
cording to VASARI, who, in 1568, was among the first to
celebrate her work, she was much envied and persecuted
by male painters. Despite her gifts, she died young and in
penury, at the Ospedale della Morte in Bologna.
Rosso Fiorentino (Giovanni Battista di Jacopo)
(1495–1540) Italian painter
Rosso probably trained with PONTORMOunder ANDREA DEL
SARTO, whose influence is strong upon Rosso’s early paint-
ing. Rosso’s earliest surviving work is the fresco of the As-
sumption (1517) in the church of SS. Annunziata in
Florence, in which his taste for drama and violent color is
already evident. Equally emotional in treatment was the
famous Deposition (1521; Galleria Pittorica, Volterra),
which Rosso painted shortly before leaving for Rome,
where he came under the influence of MICHELANGELO.
After the Sack of Rome (1527) Rosso wandered Italy for
several years before being summoned to France by Fran-
cis I to work on the design and decoration of the château
at FONTAINEBLEAU. Here, with PRIMATICCIO, he founded
the French mannerist school, executing such influential
works as the Galerie François I. Other major works in-
clude the impressive Moses and Jethro’s Daughters (c. 1523;
Uffizi, Florence) and Dead Christ with Angels (1525–26;
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston).Rotonda, Villa An Italian villa designed by Andrea PAL-
LADIOand built on a hilltop site at Vicenza. The Villa Ro-
tonda, which is also known as La Rotonda or the Villa
Capra, was begun in about 1549 for Giulio Capra but not
completed until 1606 by SCAMOZZI. It consists of a domed
central hall with four symmetrical rooms leading off it,
each with an identical Ionic portico. The proportions, bal-
ance, and classical ornamentation of the villa caught the
imagination of architects throughout Europe. Chiswick
House (1730–36) in west London is one of the numerous
buildings to be built in imitation of the Villa Rotonda.Rovere family See DELLA ROVERE FAMILYRubens, Pieter Paul (1577–1640) Flemish painter
Rubens was born in the German town of Siegen, to which
his father, a devout Protestant, had fled to avoid religious
persecution. The family moved back to Antwerp in 1587
following the latter’s death, and Rubens was raised as a
Catholic. In 1591 he began his artistic training in the stu-
dio of the landscape painter Tobias Verhaecht (or Van
Haecht; 1561–16), and in the following year he moved
to the studio of the portrait painter Adam van Noort
(c. 1562–1641), where he remained for four years. He
completed his training under Otto van VEENwho instilled
in Rubens a sense of the dignity of the professional
painter. In 1598 he was admitted to the painter’s guild in
Antwerp and in 1600, probably encouraged by van Veen,
he set off for Italy.
His first port of call was Venice where he saw paint-
ings by TINTORETTO, TITIAN, and VERONESE. These artists,
especially Titian, were to be highly influential in Rubens’s
mature work. He also assimilated the work of many other
Italian masters, whose works he was employed to copy by
Vicenzo Gonzaga, duke of Mantua. In 1601 Rubens made
his first visit to Rome where he came under the influence
of the new BAROQUEstyle of CARAVAGGIOand CARRACCI.
His first commission in Rome was to paint three large al-
tarpieces for the crypt chapel of St. Helena in the Basilica
of Sta. Croce (1601–02). His first diplomatic mission was44118 8 RRoosssseelllliinnoo,, BBeerrnnaarrddoo aanndd AAnnttoonniioo