Adriano Fiorentino (c. 1450–1499)

Florentine sculptor, military engineer, and medallist. He worked at courts in Italy and also in Germany, where he produced one of his best-known works, a bronze bust of Elector Frederick (III) the Wise in contemporary costume (Grünes Gewölbe, Dresden).

He is first recorded as a bronze founder in an inscription on the base of the Bellerophon and Pegasus (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna), a bronze statuette designed by Bertoldo di Giovanni in Florence during the early 1480s. Adriano then moved to Naples, serving King Ferrante I as military engineer and artillery founder. He also produced medals of members of the house of Aragon and their court poet Giovanni Pontano. In 1495 Adriano was serving Elizabetta Gonzaga, Duchess of Urbino, and then her brother Gianfrancesco Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua. By 1498 he was working in Germany at the court of Elector Frederick.

Among his finest works are two bronze statuettes: Venus (Philadelphia Museum of Art) and Satyr with Pan-Pipes (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna).