INTRODUCTION | HISTORICAL ARTIFACT | RESEARCH

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DIMENSIONS & MAKER'S MARK | The TRUMPETER'S WING | daVCINCI'S SEASHELL | VERROCCHIO PUTTO

There is little debate that the chalice originated in the renowned worshop of Andrea del Verracchio. Verrocchio was one of the leading artists of late 15th-century Florence. He had been trained as a goldsmith and went on to work as a sculptor and painter. Many consider Leonardo da Vinci as the most important painter that studied at the workshop under Verrocchio. History tells us that Verrocchio often used “assistants” to complete many of his paintings. There is only one painting that was actually signed by Verrocchio, Madonna and Child with Saints, in the Cathdral of Pistoia, painted in the late 1470s.

Verrocchio's Cherub with a Dolphin offers a very clear vision of his work portraying putti. When we compare the Putto with the shawm/bagpipe (on the chalice) to the Dolphin Cherub, we realize the distinct hair and facial characteristics, as well as the muscle and body proportions with striking (identical) similarities. Whether fashioned totally by Verrocchio's or daVinci's hand may direct discussion. That these features so strongly hint origin from the same workshop would not seem as easy an argument.

That there are no known chalices with these characterists or composition only makes the discovery of the da Vinci Chalice that much more exciting. It truly is a one-of-a-kind work of the master that appears to have remained uncatalogued and unknown.