Leonardo Sormani

Leonardo Sormani (active ca 1550- ca 1590) was an Italian sculptor active in Rome during the Renaissance. Details of his life are not well known, and authors seemingly refer to him by different names: Giorgio Vasari spoke of a Lionardo Milanese; Giovanni Baglione wrote biographical details of a Lionardo da Serzana or Sarzana;^[1] while by the 1670s Giovanni Vincenzo Verzellino and Raffaele Soprani tried to distinguish Vasari's Lionardo from a Leonardo Sormani, originally from Savona. These names, however, appear to refer to the same sculptor. Attributions however of individual works are difficult.^[2]

Sarzana appears to have been a restorer as well as a sculptor. Works attributed to Sarzana include:

• Seated statue of Pope Pius V (died 1572) made for the Papal tomb at the Sistine Chapel at Santa Maria Maggiore,^[3] commissioned by Cardinal Peretti, soon to be Sixtus V^[4]
• Bust of Cardinal Rodolfo Pio da Carpi (died 1564) in the Church of Santa Trinità dei Monti, Rome
• Saints Peter and Paul for the chapel of Cardinal Giovanni Ricci of Montepulciano in San Pietro in Montorio.
• Contributions to statues in the tomb of Pope Nicholas IV in Santa Maria Maggiore
• Contributions to the statue of Moses for the Fountain of Acqua Felice in Rome
• Statue of enthroned Pope Paul III Farnese