![\"\"](\"https:\/\/gidevenice.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/retina-cottage6-500x178.png\")
<\/h4>\n<\/h4>\nIf you find yourself on Campo Santi Giovanni e Paolo<\/strong>, be sure to stop in front of the monument to Bartolomeo Colleoni.<\/p>\n Just don't look at it as just another monument.<\/p>\n Because before you is one of those cases when the sculptor decided to show more than just a man on a horse.<\/p>\n He decided to show his power.<\/strong><\/p>\n Verrocchio came to Venice from Florence. By then, he was already a renowned artist and sculptor. He worked for the Medici, painting, sculpting, and making jewelry. And yes, it was in his Florentine workshop that the young Leonardo da Vinci<\/strong>But the Venetians didn't invite Verrocchio to paint them a picture. He was commissioned to create a monument to a man the Venetians knew very well\u2014 Bartolomeo Colleoni. <\/strong>Condottiere. A military leader who served the Venetian Republic and left it a vast fortune.<\/p>\n Venice agreed.<\/p>\n But, as is often the case in Venice, in my own way<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Colleoni wanted his monument to be in St. Mark's Square. Venice decided otherwise. It was erected in front of the church. Santi Giovanni e Paolo<\/strong>And this is where the fun begins.<\/p>\n Look at Colleoni. He's not just sitting on a horse. It's as if he's about to move forward. <\/strong>The horse is tense. Its neck is stretched out. One leg is thrust forward. And Colleoni's face looks nothing like the face of a man humbly posing for a posthumous portrait.<\/p>\n There's tension in it. Confidence. And the feeling of a man accustomed to giving orders. And that's very accurate. Because Verrocchio wasn't just creating a depiction of a dead condottiere.<\/p>\n He created an image of strength.<\/strong><\/p>\n At that time, the equestrian monument was already a serious artistic challenge. Verrocchio was faced with the famous Gattamelata<\/strong> Donatello in Padua.<\/p>\n But Verrocchio went further. His Colleoni doesn't just stand there. He's moving. <\/strong>It seems that in another second this heavy bronze figure and its horse will tear off.<\/p>\n And that is why the monument makes such a strong impression even today.<\/p>\n There is also a bit of sad irony in this story.<\/p>\n Verrocchio died in 1488.<\/strong><\/p>\n And the monument was erected after his death - in In 1496<\/strong>.<\/p>\n It turns out that the sculptor never saw his Colleoni in Venice as we see him today.<\/p>\n But he managed to do the main thing.<\/p>\n He created a man who continues to look as if he is about to speak and give an order.<\/p>\n Now look at Colleoni coat of arms<\/strong>Yes, you saw it correctly. It really is three images of testicles<\/strong>.<\/p>\n And here begins a story that is best told without unnecessary embellishment, because it is quite good on its own. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n Three testicles were part of the Colleoni family coat of arms. In fact, Bartolomeo Colleoni himself described his coat of arms in exactly this way in a 15th-century document.<\/p>\n But why exactly three?<\/p>\n There is an old legend that the condottiere himself had a rare anatomical feature - three testicles<\/strong>, and it was from here that his coat of arms allegedly came.<\/p>\n There is no evidence for this.<\/p>\n That is why historians regard this version as legend<\/strong>, and not as an established fact.<\/p>\n But there is a curious coincidence.<\/p>\n Surname Colleoni<\/strong> related to Latin coleus<\/em> \u2014 \u201ctesticle\u201d, and in the documents of the 15th century the form is also found Coglioni<\/strong>.<\/p>\n So the story here turns out to be almost a ready-made joke, invented by the era itself.<\/p>\n Because if we move away from this funny detail, we are left with an absolutely amazing story.<\/p>\n The condottiere leaves Venice a huge fortune.<\/p>\n Venice erects a monument to him - but not where he asked<\/strong>.<\/p>\n The Florentine sculptor created for him one of the greatest equestrian monuments of the Renaissance.<\/p>\n And more than five hundred years later we still stand before it and try to understand:<\/p>\n What exactly did Verrocchio want to say with this man?<\/strong><\/p>\n The answer is probably quite simple.<\/p>\n He wanted to show a force that needs no explanation<\/strong>.<\/p>\n And he succeeded.<\/p>\n And three testicles?<\/p>\n This is already a small Venetian detail that reminds:<\/p>\n Behind great monuments there are sometimes very human stories.<\/strong><\/p>\n And perhaps that's why in Venice you should never look at a monument from just one side. \ud83d\ude04<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u041a\u0430\u043a \u0412\u0435\u0440\u0440\u043e\u043a\u043a\u044c\u043e \u043f\u0440\u0438\u0435\u0445\u0430\u043b \u0432 \u0412\u0435\u043d\u0435\u0446\u0438\u044e \u2014 \u0438 \u043e\u0441\u0442\u0430\u0432\u0438\u043b \u0435\u0439 \u041a\u043e\u043b\u043b\u0435\u043e\u043d\u0438 \u0415\u0441\u043b\u0438 \u0432\u044b \u043e\u043a\u0430\u0436\u0435\u0442\u0435\u0441\u044c \u043d\u0430 Campo Santi Giovanni e Paolo, \u043e\u0431\u044f\u0437\u0430\u0442\u0435\u043b\u044c\u043d\u043e \u043e\u0441\u0442\u0430\u043d\u043e\u0432\u0438\u0442\u0435\u0441\u044c \u043f\u0435\u0440\u0435\u0434 \u043f\u0430\u043c\u044f\u0442\u043d\u0438\u043a\u043e\u043c \u0411\u0430\u0440\u0442\u043e\u043b\u043e\u043c\u0435\u043e \u041a\u043e\u043b\u043b\u0435\u043e\u043d\u0438. \u0422\u043e\u043b\u044c\u043a\u043e \u043d\u0435 \u0441\u043c\u043e\u0442\u0440\u0438\u0442\u0435 [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2998,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lyudi-ne-biografii-a-resheniya"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/gidevenice.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/bartalomeo-500x263.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\nFrom Florence to Venice<\/h3>\n
Colleoni bequeathed money to Venice - with one condition: A monument was supposed to be erected to him.<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\nA monument that became larger than a portrait<\/h3>\n
\nAfter Donatello<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/gidevenice.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/paduya-500x305.png\")
<\/p>\n
\nVerrocchio never saw him again.<\/h3>\n
\nAnd now - a small detail<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/gidevenice.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/caption-500x375.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\nAnd yet, the most interesting thing is not this<\/h3>\n