Ricciarelli, Daniele

Ricciarelli, Daniele (called Daniel of Volterra), a painter and sculptor of the Florentine school, was born at Volterra in Tuscany, in 1509. He studied design under Sodoma, and afterwards under Peruzzi at Siena. On going to Rome, he became a pupil of Pierino del Vaga, and assisted his master in adorning the Vatican and other buildings. He became a friend of Michael Angelo, who procured for him the patronage of pope Paul III, and continued his work in the Vatican after the death of his master Pierino. A great deal of the success of Ricciarelli was due to Angelo, who often furnished designs for his paintings and gave him valuable advice. The Descent from the Cross, considered one of the three finest paintings in Rome, owes much of its renown to the assistance which Ricciarelli received from his friend. Were this his only work, he would have ranked among the greatest of Italian masters, but many of his other pictures have a sad lack of expression. On the death of Paul III, Ricciarelli lost his position as superintendent of the works of the Vatican, and gave himself thenceforth to sculpture. He modeled the sculptures of Michael Angelo in the chapel of St. Lorenzo in Florence; and while engaged upon an equestrian statue of Henry II of France, he died suddenly, in 1566. In the Louvre is a bas-relief of Christ Placed in the Tomb, attributed to Ricciarelli. Among his minor paintings are Massacre of the Innocents and Martyrdom of St. Cecilia at Florence; at Dresden, a Holy Family (after Michael Angelo); and in the Louvre, David Killing Goliath. See Vasari, Vite; Lanzi, Storia Pittorica; Pistolesi, Descrizione di Roma.