Onofrio Panvinio 1570 - 1575

Girolamo Campagna fashioned this bronze bust of Onofrio Panvinio sometime in the late 16th century. It’s a striking example of how Renaissance art served to immortalize individuals, but also to project power. Panvinio was a prominent historian and Augustinian friar. Living in Rome, he was well placed to research the history of the Roman Empire and of the Catholic Church. Campagna was a sculptor active in Venice, a city notable for its own carefully constructed civic identity and self-image. Venice, like Rome, depended on a sense of its own history to legitimize its power. The choice of bronze as a medium lends a sense of permanence and importance. By studying archival documents, letters, and other historical sources, we can better understand the relationship between artists, patrons, and the social institutions that shaped artistic production in Renaissance Italy. Art, in this context, becomes a window into the complex interplay of power, patronage, and cultural values.