scultura iii - Tomasso Brothers

SCULTURA III TOMASSO BROTHERS FINE ART
SCULTURA III
SCULTURA III
SCULTURA III
TOMASSO BROTHERS
FINE ART
photographs by doug currie
paul holberton publishing
SCULTURA III
21‒31 October 2010
at Otto Naumann Ltd.
22 East 80th Street
10075 New York
acknowledgements
Tomasso Brothers Fine Art would like to express their
gratitude to the following art historians and colleagues
for their contribution to the present catalogue:
Charles Avery
Andrea Bacchi
Charlotte Conboy
Arcadia Fletcher
Alison Luchs
Carolyn Miner
Sophie Richard
Eike Schmidt
tomasso brothers fine art
Bardon Hall, Weetwood Lane, Leeds, ls16 8hj, England
Tel: +44 (0) 113 275 5545
[email protected]
www.tomassobrothers.co.uk
foreword
Excellence is a thing which some of us strive for – even in this dumbed-down, television-fed
world. In Britain, excellence is still associated with the Royal Society, the British Academy and
the great art galleries, museums, libraries, universities and research institutes of our land.
Hanging on by their fingernails are the Third Programme on the radio, The Times Literary
Supplement, and, for us in the art world, the Burlington Magazine and a few other learned
journals.
Too many of us suffer from an acute lack of cultural stimulation and are fearful of
anything that is monochrome, three-dimensional, religious, or foreign. Thankfully the
Tomasso brothers are a family richly endowed with great sensitivity to sculpture, the field
where the mind in association with the hand creates tactile sonnets of searing truth and
beauty. They acquire bronzes, marbles, terracottas, waxes, ivories and wooden sculptures
which they display with taste and accompany with intelligent and lively catalogues. What is a
near miracle is that all this happens not in Florence, not in Paris, not in Monte Carlo, nor
even in London, but in Leeds.
The Tomasso brothers do not hanker after regionalism. They are not impressed by the
pressure of the art market that requires sensationalism. They strive to deal in excellence. This
is a difficult commodity to find and, when found, only recognised by the few. Really good
sculpture is increasingly rare but, as collectors, excellence should also be our target. I salute
the Tomasso family for having the nerve and confidence to deal in the sort of serious
sculpture that, when contemplated, is capable of enriching and enhancing all our lives.
sir timothy clifford
August 2010
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SCULTURA III
1. genoese, first quarter 14th century, Five relief panels from an altar screen
2. luca della robbia (studio of )
The Madonna and Child with a Choir of Angels
3. italian, 15th century, St Catherine of Siena
4. benedetto da maiano and neri di bicci (workshop of )
The Virgin and Child with Saint John
5. french, c. 1500, King Louis XII of France
6. simone bianco (attributed to), Head of an Idealized Woman all’Antica
7. vincenzo and gian girolamo grandi
Profile Portrait Relief of a Classical Heroine
8. guglielmo della porta
Head of a Cherub, after the Monument of Pope Paul III in St Peter’s, Rome
9. domenico poggini, Bust of a Youth in a Cuirass
10. antonio susini (after a model by Giambologna)
Hercules carrying the Erymanthian Boar and Hercules and Antaeus
11. giovanni francesco susini (after Antonio Susini)
The Farnese Bull (The Punishment of Dirce)
12. nicolò roccatagliata, Pax of the Pietà, with the Risen Christ
13. ferdinando tacca (after Giambologna), Venus after the Bath
14. francesco di virgilio fanelli, Cupid astride a Dolphin
15. florentine, 17th century, giambologna ⁄ antonio susini
(follower of ), A Lion savaging a Bull and A Lion savaging a Horse
16. joseph willems, A Black Man in Ragged Clothes with a Bowl
17. joseph claus, Bust of the Emperor Caracalla
18. josse-françois-joseph leriche, An Allegorical Bust of Autumn
19. joseph chinard, Portrait of a Man
20. john gibson (attributed to), Female Classical Bust
“I worked on all my days happily and with
ever new pleasure, avoiding evil and with a
calm soul; making images, not for worship
but for the love of the beautiful.”
John Gibson
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1.
genoese , first quarter 14th century
Five relief panels from an altar screen
White marble, each panel approximately 13 ½ x 13 ½ in. (34 x 34 cm)
provenance: Bardini collection, Florence, c. 1900
The five square white marble panels are carved in deep relief with a variety of figurative,
foliate and floral motifs within a small frame. One panel shows a winged bull, symbol of the
Evangelist Luke, standing before a foliate ground, his tail swishing, wings outstretched and
his head facing towards the viewer. He stands with his left foreleg uplifted and his right
foreleg standing upon a Bible, which has an elaborate binding with punch-work decoration
and straps. Another panel has a deeply cut rose ornament in the centre framed by a vine
tendril with leaves and grapes. A third has a central flower motif with four others in each
corner on a foliate ground. The border is decorated with a herringbone pattern. A fourth
panel has central quadripartite foliation encased in an acanthus-leaf frame surrounded by
vine-tendril ornament with leaves and grapes. The fifth panel is similar to the third in that
it has a central flower motif and four smaller blooms in the corners on an acanthus-leaf
background.
These panels are part of a group, which probably formed part of a choir screen or a high
altar. Fourteen other panels from the same group are still in the Bardini collection (Florence,
Museo Bardini). Within this group there are other Evangelist symbols, in particular a lion of
Saint Mark, which is very close in style and composition to the present bull of Saint Luke.
The design is similar, the beast filling the panel, its wings outstretched before a foliate
ground, its head turned to face the viewer. There is a slight variation in so far as the lion is
holding the Bible between its front paws rather than standing on it – demonstrating the
playfulness of the carver. Together with the present relief showing the bull this lion relief was
part of a series of four which would have included the eagle of Saint John and the angel of
Saint Matthew. Another Bardini panel, in which an eagle is represented, might be the third
panel from that group, as the eagle is in a similar position within the panel and is also
standing on a Bible. In the Museo Bardini panels there are variations of the floral and foliate
motifs as found here, carved in similar styles, notably some examples carved with a crispness
like that of the fifth relief here. Faedo relates the Museo Bardini group to Genoese sculpture
of the first quarter of the fourteenth century and compares some of the group to relief
panels from the church of San Francesco di Castello in Genoa. a.f.
related literature
E. Neri Lusanna Lucia Faedo et al., Il Museo Bardini a Firenze, vol. 2, Milan 1986, pp. 219–20, pls. 120–33;
V. Niemeyer Chini, Stefano Bardini e Wilhelm Bode, mercanti e connoisseurs fra Ottocento e Novecento,
Florence, 2009, pp. 196 and 201
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2.
luca della robbia (1400–1482)
(Studio of )
The Madonna and Child with a Choir of Angels
Stucco, with traces of polychromy
18 in. (46 cm) diameter; 23¼ in. (59 cm) high; 23 in. (58.5 cm) wide
provenance: Charles ( J.C.) Robinson; J. Pierpont Morgan, London/New York; given by him
in 1917 to the Wadsworth Athenaeum Art Museum, Hartford, Connecticut
exhibited: The Royal Academy, Winter Exhibition, Burlington House, London, 1888, case C,
no. 7; The Burlington Fine Arts Club, Burlington House, London, 1912, ‘Sculpture’, no. 18
This roundel records a significant, early, devotional composition by the up-and-coming Luca
della Robbia as he emerged from the seminal experience of Ghiberti’s workshop for the first
set of bronze doors for the Florence Baptistry. The graceful hovering angels, with their
calligraphic folds of drapery, mark a debt to his master Ghiberti. He also observed the
trajectory of Donatello (some thirteen years older than him) from that workshop into the
public eye, with his early statues of saints and prophets and his reliefs fashioned in very
shallow relief, like the exhibition piece. Luca had reached the peak of his artistic prowess by
1436, having been commissioned to carve a Cantoria (Singing gallery) to match another by
Donatello for the crossing of the newly domed Cathedral.
The present rare Early Renaissance piece of sculpture is known in no more than a few
other examples, of which the best (though worn) is a modelled plaque in terracotta in the
Louvre: despite some earlier scholars’ doubts, this has now been proved to be authentic. In
the Louvre piece, within an outer rectangle, the circle with the figures is inscribed,
presumably in order to produce a mould, from which a bronze might have been intended to
be cast. Otherwise only casts in stucco are known, but this is not to say that a bronze
medallion, similar to a surviving one that Luca cast for the sacramental tabernacle in
Sant’Egidio, Florence (now in the church of Peretola, with the roundel being kept in the
Bargello) was not made. As Pope-Hennessy writes (1980, p. 257): “The analogies with
authenticated works by Luca are too close to enable the lost original to be ascribed to any
other hand”.
The present cast was well catalogued by the leading lights of their day, in 1912 by Mr (later
Sir) Eric (R.D.) Maclagan, later Keeper of Sculpture at the Victoria and Albert Museum, and
in 1980 by his successor in that post, Sir John Pope-Hennessy, who wrote as follows (1980, p.
76, selected text): “No doubt Luca, at this and at an earlier time, produced other small-scale
bronze reliefs. The only two of which we have a record are also generically Ghibertesque.
The first shows the Virgin seated on clouds with the Child in her lap, surrounded by six flying
angels, which seem, in their staid fashion, to depend from the angels modelled by Ghiberti for
the Arca di San Zenobio. The composition is known from upwards of nine versions in stucco
and terracotta, sometimes circular, and sometimes, as in a version in the Louvre, a circle
impressed within a square, all of which seem to have been made, at first or second hand,
from a single superior original. The known versions are unequal in quality, and it was inferred
by Marquand from their uniformity that they were modern (as, indeed, some of them may
be). In some cases, as we might expect, they show traces of gilding or pigmentation, and
there is every reason to suppose that they were made commercially. The prototype must have
been well known, since it is recorded by a Pisanello follower in a drawing in the Ambrosiana
in Milan, in which certain details have been modified” (on which see now Gentilini and
Fornasari 2009, p. 174, no. 12, ill.).
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The sculptural image of the Virgin and Child in a roundel was not common before
the Renaissance: Hauptmann regarded as the earliest example an ivory book cover of the
tenth century in Berlin, which corresponds closely to contemporary Byzantine mosaics
(Hauptmann 1936, p. 111, fig. 22). The first fully sculptural treatment in an Italian context
appears to be a marble roundel in the Collegiata at Empoli from the school of the Pisani,
which is only 35 cm in diameter (Hauptmann 1936, p. 113, fig. 23): its original purpose and
context are not known, but it is interesting to see how the figures are deliberately related to
the circular frame. Then there is a class of roundels with the Virgin and Child to be found
on Neapolitan sarcophagi of the fourteenth century (Hauptmann 1936, p. 113, n. 4; PopeHennessy and Lightbown 1964, no. 40). A link with Tuscany in the person of Tino di
Camaino might be presumed, but no such sarcophagi survive, if they ever existed, in
Florence. There, the Virgin and Child featured in frames of various, typically Gothic,
shapes on tombs of the late fourteenth century, finally to emerge in a semi-circular lunette
on the tomb by Donatello and Michelozzo for the anti-pope John XXIII in the Baptistry at
Florence (c. 1424–27). Not until Bernardo Rossellino’s tomb of Leonardo Bruni (d. 1444) did
the image appear in a completely circular frame, consistent with the geometrical purity of
early Renaissance architecture. Thenceforth, the roundel of the Virgin and Child was to be
a standard component of the ‘humanist tomb’, as proposed by Antonio Rossellino, Desiderio
da Settignano, Mino da Fiesole and Benedetto da Maiano, to mention only the most famous
exponents. c.a.
related literature
Catalogue of a Collection of Italian Sculpture and Other Plastic Art of the Renaissance, exh. cat., Burlington
Fine Arts Club, London, 1913, pp. 38–39, ‘Sculpture’, no. 18; A. Marquand, Luca della Robbia, London,
Oxford, 1914, pp. 229–31 (after earlier acceptance, sceptical of their authenticity); M. Hauptmann, Der
Tondo, Frankfurt-am-Main, 1936; J. Pope-Hennessy and R. Lightbown, Catalogue of Italian Sculpture in
the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1964, no. 40; J. Pope-Hennessy, Luca della Robbia, Oxford, 1980,
pp. 67, 257, cat. no. 45, pl. 94B; G.C. Gentilini, I Della Robbia: la scultura invetriata nel Rinascimento,
Florence, 1992, p. 24 (illus. p. 20); A. Darr, P. Barnet and A. Boström, Catalogue of Italian Sculpture in
the Detroit Institute of Arts, London, 2002, II, pp. 219–20, no. 265 (their cast as of doubtful authenticity);
J.-R. Gaborit and M. Bormand (eds.), Les della Robbia, exh. cat., Nice, 2002, p. 96, no. IV.1; G. BrescBautier (ed.), Les Sculptures européennes du museé du Louvre, Paris, 2006, p. 126; G.C. Gentilini and
L. Fornasari, I Della Robbia: il dialogo tra le Arti nel Rinascimento, exh. cat., Museo statale, Arezzo,
2009, pp. 315–16, no. 11 (illus. p. 174)
.
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3.
italian , 15th century
Saint Catherine of Siena
White marble, high relief
15 in. (38 cm) high
This intimately scaled depiction of a monastic saint is highly likely to represent the
Dominican Saint Catherine of Siena, a famous mystic who had visions from a very early
age. She spent much of her time visiting the poor and the sick during her life. After Pope
Gregory XI excommunicated the government of Florence and placed the city under interdict
in 1376, Saint Catherine interceded on the Florentines’ behalf. She travelled to Avignon, where
she so impressed the pope by her fairmindedness and discretion that he left it to her to draw
up the terms on which the Florentines might be reinstated. At this period Italy, and especially
Florence, was in turmoil, which Saint Catherine attributed to the pope’s residence in Avignon
instead of Rome. Thereafter she wrote letters to the pope, which were successful in persuading him to return to Rome.
Throughout the history of art Saint Catherine has been portrayed many times, most often
in her youthful mystic marriage to Christ, but she is also often represented, as in the present
marble, as an older woman holding her Dialogue, a bound book of her writings.
The author of the present sculpture remains unidentified but the work shows close
affinities to the world of the Lombard sculptor Jacopino da Tradate (c. 1371–1445.) For
example, his figure of the Mourning Madonna at the foot of the cross in Sant’Eustorgio,
Milan, has great similarities, notably in the way the sculptor has formed the folds of cloth
and also in the stance of the two figures.
related literature
L. Cavazzini, Il crepuscolo della scultura medievale in Lombardia, Milan, 2004, pls. 135 and 138.
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4.
benedetto da maiano (1442–1497) and neri di bicci (1418–1492)
(Workshop of )
The Virgin and Child with Saint John
Stucco, within original period frame, all painted and gilded
Overall 32¾ x 24 in (83 x 62 cm)
Stucco (sight): 24¾ x 16½ in (63 x 42 cm)
Benedetto was a Florentine sculptor, born in the quarry-village of Maiano and, like his
brother Giuliano, trained as a wood-carver, matriculating in the Florentine sculptors’ guild
in 1473. He was associated with Antonio Rossellino and continued his tradition of fine marble
carving for chapels, tombs, pulpits and portrait-busts. Narrative reliefs were Benedetto’s
forte, for example those on the pulpit of Santa Croce, Florence (terracotta models in the
Victoria and Albert Museum), and he produced many charming compositions of the Virgin
and Child. He influenced High Renaissance marble sculptors such as Andrea Sansovino and
Michelangelo.
The exhibition relief has been primed and professionally painted, with particular attention
to the elaborate woven patterns of the Virgin’s clothing. The haloes and her collar and cuffs
have stamped ornaments to enliven the gilding, comparable with those used on panel
paintings of the period. The rest of the textiles have been painted in the technique known,
from its frequent use in Spain, as ‘al estofado’, whereby certain areas of the gilding were
reserved by covering them with fine lines of wax so that when, as here, the red paint was
applied over the Virgin’s dress, or the greyish white over her veil, a fine network of lines
describing the pattern in the supposed weave of the fabric was revealed as the wax was
removed.
An alternative technique, obtaining an even finer line, of delicate scratching was used
elsewhere in the present work, for example on the green hem of the Virgin’s golden cloak, on
the criss-cross, plain zones of the delicate piece of damask (?) cloth with which she holds the
baby Jesus, and on the multicoloured stripes at either end of the cloth (or around its border?).
In one such stripe, within a pattern of circles, may be read the word AVE (near the chin of
little Saint John the Baptist), the first word of the standard devotion to the Virgin, as uttered
at the Annunciation by the Angel Gabriel – “Ave Maria, plena gratia”, Hail Mary, full of grace.
The remainder of the inscription is obviously meant to be concealed by the folds of the cloth,
which would notionally contain the body of the holy Child.
The extremely skilful level of painting suggests the probable intervention of the bestknown painter of such things, Neri di Bicci, who also had close connections with Benedetto’s
brother Giuliano, an architect, cabinet-maker, inlayer and wood-carver. Neri’s Ricordanze
(memoranda) running from 1453 to 1475 are “the most extensive surviving document in
relation to a 15th-century painter” (Santi 1996, p. 797). Neri’s paintings, with their simple and
clearly identifiable style, lavishly adorned with gold, azurite and lakes, were keenly sought
after throughout his career by the most varied clientele, representing every stratum of society
from the ruling class of Florence to the artisans of the Chianti region, from noble families
like the Spini, Soderini and Rucellai to small Florentine shopkeepers, and from the abbots of
powerful religious orders like the Vallombrosans of Santa Trinità and San Pancrazio to
ordinary parish priests from the surrounding countryside.
Two examples of collaboration between Benedetto’s brother and Neri di Bicci noted in the
Ricordanze (Santi 1991, pp. 145–46) may be mentioned here. On 23 April 1464, a merchant called
Giovanni di Guarnieri Benci commissioned Giuliano to supply a wooden frame for a glazed
terracotta Madonna by Luca della Robbia, and on 8 December the same year Giuliano
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commissioned Neri to colour and gild a gesso Madonna intended for a “muratore” (mason)
from a small village between Florence and Impruneta. These give an interesting indication
of the social standing of some clients for such Madonnas, which were prerequisites for any
respectable marital bedchamber, as the Mother of God – if well prayed to – was believed to
offer kindly surveillance for the wife over the risky process of childbirth.
This charming composition, with the cherub’s head below, is known in several private and
museum collections, among them Berlin, Staatliche Museen (no. 1581); Budapest, Museum of
Fine Arts; London, Victoria and Albert Museum (no. 860-1891; Pope-Hennessy, 1964, no. 137);
Paris, Musée Jacquemart-André; St Petersburg, Hermitage (no. H. ck. 1037). There are also
several examples in terracotta or stucco of just the panel with the Virgin and Child, for
example London, Victoria and Albert Museum (no. 5-1890), which is set in a round-headed
frame and all painted (Pope-Hennessy 1964, no. 136). Pope-Hennessy writes: “Whether the
surviving versions depend from a lost marble prototype cannot be established, but there is no
reason to question Benedetto da Majano’s responsibility for the design, which seems to have
originated in the same bracket of time as the Virgin and Child on the Strozzi monument in
Santa Maria Novella, Florence [unfinished in 1491]”. c.a.
related literature
(On the sculptor) F. Schottmüller, Die Italienischen und Spanischen Bildwerke der Renaissance und des Barock.
Erster Band: Die Bildwerke in Stein, Holz, Ton und Wachs, 2nd edn, Berlin and Leipzig, 1933; J. PopeHennessy, Catalogue of Italian Sculpture in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1964, pp. 161–62, nos.
136–37, figs. 158, 160; S. Androssov, in M. Liebmann (ed.), Western European Sculpture from Soviet Museums,
15th and 16th Century, Leningrad, 1988, pp. 38–39, no. 14; E. Smodi-Eszlary, The Treasures of the Old
Sculpture Collection, Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest, n. d., pp. 17–19, fig. 7; G.M. Radke, ‘Benedetto da
Maiano’, in J. Turner (ed.), The Dictionary of Art, London and New York, 1996, vol. 20, pp. 113–16;
V. Budny, ‘Benedetto da Maiano’, in A. Bostrom (ed.), The Encyclopedia of Sculpture, London and New
York, 2004, vol. I, pp. 147–51; D. Carl, Benedetto da Maiano, ein Florentiner Bildhauer an der Schwelle zur
Hochrenaissance, Regensburg, 2006, pp. 68–74
(On the painter) B. Santi, ‘Giuliano da Maiano e Neri di Bicci. Due botteghe quattrocentesche in
collaborazione’, in D. Lamberini, M. Lotti and R. Lunardi, Giuliano e la bottega dei da Maiano: Atti del
Convegno Internazionale di Studi, Fiesole 13–15 giugno 1991, Florence, 1994, pp. 143–47; B. Santi, ‘Neri di
Bicci’, in J. Turner (ed.), The Dictionary of Art, London and New York, 1996, vol. 22, pp. 797–803
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5.
french , c. 1500
King Louis XII of France
Polychromed oak with extensive traces of the original paint and silvering
39 1⁄2 x 14 x 8 1⁄2 in. (110.5 x 36 x 20.5 cm)
provenance: The Cloisters Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York,
Gift of George Blumenthal, 1941
This beautiful and serene figure of Louis XII, King of France (1468–1515), dating from around
1500, retains the majority of its original polychromy. Carved statues of French kings in the
round are exceptionally rare from this period and this sculpture, which is perhaps from an
altarpiece recording the King’s accession to the throne in 1499, was possibly removed from its
original position during the Revolution.
Louis XII is presented in royal vestment; he wears a blue mantle with gold fleur-de-lis
ornament, a gold and jewelled trimming and a large fur collar. On his head he wears a crown,
the design of which conforms to the type subsequently attributed to the French Princes of
the Blood, as illustrated in Le Trophée d’Armes Heraldiques, Paris, 1650, plate 24, and in the
Grand Armorial de France, plate 1. His left arm is raised and he probably originally held a
sceptre. Around his neck he wears the collar of the order of Saint Michael, consisting of
scallop shells linked on a chain with a badge showing Saint Michael killing the dragon. The
original polychrome on the face is carefully rendered to create a subtle dark shadow for the
beard, and the delicate rosy cheeks create a wonderfully realistic and sensitive depiction of
the French King.
Louis XII came to the throne at the age of 36 as heir to the childless Charles VIII. His main
military campaigns were all centred towards Italy, where he laid claim to the throne of Naples
and that of Milan through his grandfather Louis of Orleans’s marriage to Valentina Visconti.
He married the widow of his predecessor, Anne of Brittany, and upon her death in January
1514 he married Mary Tudor, sister of Henry VIII of England, in order to detach England
from the alliance against him.
related literature
S. Rubinstein-Bloch, Catalogue of the Collection of George and Florence Blumenthal, Paris, 1926, vol. II, pl. IX
(right)
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6.
simone bianco (before 1512–after 1553)
(Attributed to)
Head of an Idealized Woman all’Antica
White marble
17 in. (44.5 cm) high
This portrait bust of a woman exhibits the characteristics of Simone Bianco’s greatest works –
exquisite modelling, wavy hair restrained by a ribbon, a head turned and tilted to the right, and
a wistful and reflective expression. Formed by the sculptural style of Tullio Lombardo
(1460–1532), Bianco was celebrated in sixteenth-century Venice for his all’antica portrait busts.
The earliest reference to Bianco’s marble portraits is in a letter of 1538 to the sculptor from
Pietro Aretino (1492–1556), discussing three busts Bianco had sent to Francis I of France. The
letter demonstrates that the superlative quality and pathos with which Bianco modelled his
sculpture was also recognized far beyond the city of Venice (Aretino 1609, p. 74). Further
correspondence between Aretino and Bianco in 1548 mentions Bianco’s bust of the wife of a
certain Nicolò Molino. Aretino explains that the bust delighted not only him, but also Titian
(1488–1576) and Jacopo Sansovino (1486–1570).
The present bust is stylistically similar to Bianco’s bust in Berlin, once thought to have
portrayed the wife of Nicolò Molino, but follows a more classical formula. As his career
progressed, Simone Bianco became increasingly influenced by Sansovino and began to
produce heads inspired more directly by antique prototypes. As such, the date of this all’antica
portrait can be placed between the Berlin bust and the more rigorously classical busts which
followed, namely those in Paris and Copenhagen (Schulz 1995, pp. 445–47). The present work
is a manifestation of ideal beauty as conceived in the Venetian Renaissance; it is a marriage of
the expressiveness of Titian with the disciplined classicism of Sansovino.
The humanistic climate of Renaissance Venice fostered the revival of sculpture inspired
by antiquity. However, whereas Tullio Lombardo sought primarily to challenge ancient
sculpture, Bianco responded to the desire of many sixteenth-century collectors to possess
all’antica portraits. Referred to in documents simply as teste (meaning head or bust), these
portraits were more often of women than of men and were not only stand-alone works but
occasionally replaced a lost ancient head on Roman busts, as in the present example (Luchs,
p. 63). In 1532 Marcantonio Michiel wrote of a marble “head of a woman with her mouth
open” by a modern sculptor which was given by the Venetian collector Gabriele Vendramin
“for the antique marble torso” of Antonio Pasqualigo (Luchs 2009, p. 16, no. 22). As very
few of Bianco’s works survive, it is tempting, although entirely speculative, to suggest that
Michiel was discussing this all’antica portrait; indeed Michiel wrote of Bianco in a different
context that same year, indicating he was familiar with the sculptor.
Simone Bianco’s stylistic debt to Tullio is evident in his adaptation of contemporary
Venetian portrait painting to his sculpture. However, Bianco demonstrated his own sensibility
by melding the revival of the antique with a contemporary aesthetic. c.m.
related literature
M. Michiel, Notizia d’opere di disegno nella prima metà del secolo XVI, 1521‒48, ed. J. Morelli, Bassano, 1800;
L. Planicig, ‘Simone Bianco’, Belvedere, vol. v, 1924, pp. 157–63; Pietro Aretino, Lettere sull’arte di Pietro
Aretino, 1609, ed. F. Pertile and E. Camesasca, Milan, 1957–59, vol. 1, p. 120, no. 76; T. Martin, ‘Michelangelo’s
“Brutus” and the Classicizing Portrait Bust in Sixteenth-Century Italy’, Artibus et Historiae, vol. xiv, no. 27,
1993, pp. 67–83; A. Luchs, Tullio Lombardo and Ideal Portrait Sculpture in Renaissance Venice, Cambridge, 1995;
M. Schulz, ‘Simone Bianco’, Saur 10, 1995, pp. 445–47; A. Luchs, Tullio Lombardo and Venetian High
Renaissance Sculpture, exh. cat., National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, 2009, p. 64, fig. 4
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7.
vincenzo and gian girolamo grandi
(1493–1577/8 and 1508–1560 respectively)
Profile Portrait Relief of a Classical Heroine, c. 1525
White marble
12¼ x 9½ in. (31 x 24 cm)
Vincenzo and his nephew Gian Girolamo worked in tandem throughout the second and third
quarters of the sixteenth century. They came from a family of sculptors and bronze casters
who originated in Vicenza, but their main centres of activity became Trento and Padua. They
were involved in many architectural projects and in interior decoration schemes in these
regions, most notably at the Castle in Trento. Although they were associated with producing
domestic bronze vessels the Grandi were equally adept at carving marbles.
The classicizing profile, and the three-quarter profile portrait in marble, were reintroduced
into the world of sculpture during the reign of Emperor Frederick II in South Italy in the
thirteenth century, but reached their peak at the turn of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries,
during the lifetimes of the great Venetian sculptors Pietro and Tullio Lombardo and their
circle. This type of sculptural representation owes much to the ancient prototypes that were
avidly studied by all the great Quattrocento artists, leading to a full renaissance of classical
ideals, many of which are illustrated in the present marble. The woman wears a classicizing
full-bodied hairstyle, which is left flowing around the face and on to the neck, and is
ornamented with a headband as worn by antique models. She also wears an ancient chiffon,
which forms drapery around her neck and shoulders and further evokes associations with the
ancient world.
Although this relief, when published in the catalogue of the recent exhibition Rinascimento
e Passione per l’Antico: Andrea Ricco e il suo Tempo in Trento, was described as the work of an
unknown Venetian sculptor around 1520, it had not then been examined at first hand by the
catalogue’s compilers. It has subsequently been unanimously accepted by the exhibition’s
curators, led by Andrea Bacchi, as a fully autograph work by Vincenzo and Gian Girolamo
Grandi.
related literature
A. Luchs, Tullio Lombardo and Ideal Portrait Sculpture in Renaissance Venice, 1490–1530, Cambridge, 1995;
M. Ceriana, Tullio Lombardo: scultore e architetto nella Venezia del Rinascimento, Venice, 2007; A. Bacchi
and L. Giacomelli, Rinascimento e Passione per l’antico: Andrea Ricco e il suo tempo, exh. cat., Castello del
Buonconsiglio, Trento, 2008, p. 508, no. 116
28
8.
guglielmo della porta (active 1534–77)
Head of a Cherub, after the Monument of Pope Paul III in St Peter’s, Rome
Bronze
7½ in. (19 cm) high
This bust is an extract taken from one of the two bronze statues of cherubim seated astride
the massive volutes that flank the pedestal of the monument to Pope Paul III Farnese which
now stands against the wall of the chancel of St Peter’s to the left of the high altar.
The project originated as a free-standing monument destined to stand vaingloriously
beneath the very crossing of St Peter’s, which Vasari describes as follows: “At the sides of
the said base are set four putti in front of and behind the tablets with the inscriptions and on
the sides there are four narrative [reliefs] and the figures of the Cardinal Virtues”. When the
monument was reduced into a wall-tomb, two of these putti and all the reliefs were
redundant. Only the grand recumbent figures of Justice and Prudence are in situ, and the
other pair of Virtues were sent to flank a fireplace in the Palazzo Farnese. The two unused
putti were noted by Pietro de Solis after Della Porta’s death in the workshop of a Roman
goldsmith and so they would probably have been available for study by younger sculptors.
Various projects for the tomb had been successively promoted by the Pope’s nephew, the
powerful Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, but the Pope’s demise in 1549 gave the campaign a
new impetus and its production presumably followed soon afterwards, so the volutes and
cherubim probably were in existence from around 1550.
This, 1550, is the papal jubilee year in which the young Giambologna is thought to have
arrived in Rome from his native Flanders to continue his training, principally through the
study of the famous antiquities in the eternal city and of the works by the now elderly
Michelangelo (died 1564). But he would also have been captivated by the work of
contemporary sculptors who were then at the height of their careers, such as Guglielmo della
Porta in Rome and Benvenuto Cellini in Florence. In his book on the sculptor of 1987 Charles
Avery proposed that Giambologna certainly took note – perhaps by making models in wax or
casts in plaster from the abandoned pair of bronze statuettes – of Della Porta’s vivaciously
invented cherubim: indeed, he virtually re-used their design, with legs flailing apart, a decade
later for the fishing boys (58 cm high) on an early fountain in Florence (c. 1561–62). These are
now in the Bargello Museum. c.a.
related literature
M. Gibellino-Kraseninnicowa, Gugliemo della Porta scultore Lombardo, Rome, 1944, pp. 14–16, 39–49 (esp.
p. 46); C. Avery, Giambologna: The Complete Sculpture, Oxford, 1987, p. 206, pl. 230; H.-W. Kruft, ‘Porta,
della, Guglielmo’, in. J. Turner (ed.), The Dictionary of Art, London, 1996, vol. 25, pp. 255–57
30
9.
domenico poggini (1520‒1590)
Bust of a Youth in a Cuirass
White marble
23 in. (58.5 cm) high
The Bust of a Youth in a Cuirass is an excellent example of Mannerist all’antica sculpture, and
of the arts at the ducal and grand-ducal court of Florence during the reign of Cosimo I de’
Medici (1519–1574) and his son and successor Francesco I de’ Medici (1541–1587). Moreover, it is
very rarely that a marble by Domenico Poggini appears on the market.
Poggini was amongst the foremost sculptors active in Florence in the second half of the
sixteenth century. Whereas most of his peers were trained in the workshop of Baccio
Bandinelli, Poggini emerged from Benvenuto Cellini’s studio. The humanist poet, scholar and
historian Benedetto Varchi (1502/03–1565) celebrated Poggini in a sonnet dedicated to his
personality and achievements specifically as Cellini’s follower: “Voi, che seguendo del mio gran
Cellino, per sì stretto sentier …”. Poggini not only continued Cellini’s legacy in terms of his
style, but he also adopted his universalist approach (which he shared with Michelangelo), not
channelling his creativity into one particular sector (such as marble carving) like most of his
contemporaries in an increasingly specialized art world, but excelling in a considerable variety
of media and techniques.
Like his master, Domenico Poggini first trained as a goldsmith. Benvenuto Cellini recounts
in his Autobiography (II, 58) that once, when he had to interrupt the work on his Perseus as he
was not feeling well, “… because I was not able to work, I enjoyed spending time in the
duke’s workshops with two young goldsmiths called Giampaolo and Domenico Poggini,
who under my supervision carried out a small gold vase, decorated all over in low relief with
figures and other ornaments: this was for the duchess, who commissioned it in order to drink
water from it”. Domenico’s elder brother Giampaolo (1518–1582) went on to become one of
the foremost medallists of his time, first in Florence and later at the court of Philip II in
Madrid. Domenico Poggini continued to work as a goldsmith (although none of his work in
this area has been identified so far, and documented works have demonstrably been destoyed
in later centuries); he became a medallist like his brother, but he also trained in bronze
sculpture and marble carving. He was even known as a poet, which is the reason why –
according to Giorgio Vasari – he was chosen to model the personification of Poetry for
Michelangelo’s catafalque in 1564.
The idealized image of a young Roman wearing an all’antica cuirass is a perfect example
of Poggini’s artistic convictions. The clean and smooth surfaces on the face and on the
cuirass, as well as the minute rendering of details such as the three masks in low relief on
the cuirass (the central one presented en face, the lateral pair in profile) are clearly informed
by the artist’s training as a goldsmith, an education which he shared not only with Cellini but
also with Poggini’s younger contemporary Antonio Susini, whose extreme degree of finish
would make his bronzes stand out within the production of Giambologna’s workshop. The
masks on the cuirass of the present bust compare particularly well with Poggini’s hybrid
creatures on the fantasy armour of his Bust of Francesco I de’ Medici, carved in 1563–64
(Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi).
The physiognomy of the sitter of the present bust is even more generalized and abstracted
than that of Francesco I, who, shortly before he became co-regent of Florence in 1564, was
represented in a highly stylized manner yet with his moustache and sideburns according to
32
the fashion of the period, and with a high forehead, an individual characteristic. The oval face
of the present bust is extremely similar to that of Poggini’s Bacchus (signed and dated 1554),
which George Blumenthal bequeathed to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1941. The
treatment of the hair and the figure’s hairdo find their closest comparanda in Poggini’s
bronze Pluto in the Studiolo of Francesco I (Palazzo Vecchio, Florence; documented 1572–73)
and in his figure of Saint Luke in the Chapel of Saint Luke in the Santissima Annunziata,
Florence. Given the lack of individual features in the face, it is likely that the present bust
was intended to represent an ideal young warrior of the Roman past rather than a specific
personality.
In his idealized concept of the human figure, with an emphasis on smooth surfaces,
Poggini’s art may be seen as the equivalent in sculpture of Bronzino’s approach in paintings
and drawings. But the present bust, although firmly rooted in the Mannerist tradition and
indeed representative of it in an exemplary way, also anticipates a key feature of Baroque
portraiture. Like Poggini’s Bacchus at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the figure’s sensuous
lips are shown slightly parted, as though he were about to speak. Although this may seem a
small detail, it changes the bust’s character in a radical way. Together with the slight turn of
the head, it enlivens the figure and it captures the beholder’s attention. Art-historically, this
element points ahead to Bernini and his circle, for whom the ‘speaking portrait’ would
become a main preoccupation about half a century after Poggini carved his Bust of a Youth in
Cuirass. e.s.
related literature
D. Heikamp (ed.), Magnificenza alla corte dei Medici, exh. cat., Florence, 1997, pp. 55‒58, nos. 20‒21
(entries by E.D. Schmidt); E.D. Schmidt, ‘Die Signatur und Datierung von Domenico Pogginis Lex
Antiqua’, Mitteilungen des Kunsthistorischen Institutes in Florenz, vol. xli, 1997, pp. 206‒11; D. Heikamp
(ed.), Palazzo Pitti: la reggia rivelata, exh. cat., Florence, 2003, p. 516 (entry by E.D. Schmidt)
34
10.
antonio susini (1558–1624)
(after a model by giambologna 1525/29–1608)
Hercules carrying the Erymanthian Boar and Hercules and Antaeus
Bronze groups, respectively 17½ in. (44 cm) and 15½ in. (39.5 cm) high, covered with a
darkened lacquer and a dark green ‘antique’ patina
The composition depicting Hercules carrying the Erymanthian Boar is after a model created
by Giambologna, the court sculptor to the Medici grand dukes in Florence, for one of a series
of the Labours of Hercules to be cast in silver. These were to crown an elaborate ebony
cabinet (studiolo) made for the former cardinal Grand Duke Ferdinando I, who had acceded to
the throne in 1587. They stood in the newly constructed Tribuna of the Uffizi. They were
remarked upon by John Evelyn in 1644: “Over this cabinet is a globe of ivory, excellently
carved; the Labours of Hercules in massy silver, and many incomparable pictures in small”.
This particular subject was cast by the goldsmith Mazzafirri on 14 May 1589, along with a
pair to it showing Hercules bearing Atlas’s Globe. All the silver Labours have, alas, been lost long
since – probably having been melted down for their precious metal – their compositions can
be reconstructed from a large number of disparate casts in bronze. The earliest documented
of these is one in Vienna, regarded as the prime example because it was listed in an inventory
of the Imperial Kunstkammer between 1607 and 1611 (no. 1887). It was then the property of
the Emperor Rudolph II, an avid admirer of Giambologna, who had indeed tried to tempt the
famous sculptor to enter his service. Its quality is superior to that of other versions, which
suggests that it was executed or at least closely supervised by Giambologna; it differs also in
showing a fillet round Hercules’s head.
The depiction of the bristly boar reflects contemporary enthusiasm for the ancient Roman
marble statue of a Seated Boar (actually the victim at bay of the huntsman Meleager) in the
Medici collection and still one of the favourite exhibits in the Uffizi Gallery. Pietro Tacca
produced a life-size cast of this animal in bronze, seated on a naturalistic base, for the
Mercato Nuovo in Florence, where it is still a tourist attraction. Thus the depiction of this
particular Labour of Hercules became one of the most popular and was reproduced during
and soon after the sculptor’s lifetime, both by his linear successors as court sculptor, Pietro
and then Ferdinando Tacca, and by their rivals in bronze production, the independent
goldsmith-foundrymen Antonio and then Gianfrancesco Susini.
In the present cast great pains have been taken to enhance, by the use of different tools and
techniques, the pleasing contrast between the various textures of the boar’s bristly hide, the
gnarled bark of the club and the smooth skin of the human figure. The result is a sensuously
tactile, attractive and glamorous rendering of the victorious aftermath of Hercules’s dramatic
struggle with the ferocious wild animal.
The subject of Hercules and Antaeus does not form part of the canonical Twelve Labours
of Hercules, but a silver version, cast by Giorgio d’Antonio in 1578 from a model by
Giambologna, was the second to be cast of the earlier set of six silver Hercules groups in
the Tribuna of the Uffizi (Heikamp 1963, p. 260, no. 14). Michelangelo had made a drawing of
the subject, but Giambologna seems not to have known it, for his composition is different.
The pose of the figure of Hercules derives in reverse from an antique marble group in the
courtyard of the Pitti Palace, brought from Rome in 1560 and restored, while that of Antaeus
relates to the bronze representations of the subject by Antonio del Pollaiuolo (statuette,
c. 1460; Florence, Bargello) and Bartolommeo Ammanati (over life-size, on the Fountain of
Hercules, Villa di Castello, 1559–60, probably derived from a model by Tribolo).
This early model became one of the most popular of Giambologna’s Hercules groups, and
36
is known in a number of versions and variants of widely different quality, clearly from several
different periods and workshops. The version that was in the collection of the Holy Roman
Emperor Rudolph II (died 1612) and has been in the Habsburg imperial collection since the
lifetime of Giambologna is rightly cited by Dhanens as the best (1956, pp. 193, 194). Another
good version is in the Wallace Collection (S120; Mann 1931, pp. 45, 46; Paris 1999, no. 49;
Wenley 2002, p. 3, figs. 1–2). It bears the engraved French Crown inventory number 49, and
was one of three versions of this subject, of which the others are now lost (nos. 1 and 57), in
the collection of King Louis XIV in 1684. A version in the Bargello, Florence (until recently in
the Pitti Palace) is assigned by Weihrauch to the Susini workshop of Antonio (1967, p. 217),
like the present example.
The features that distinguish these casts as products of Antonio Susini are the highly buffed
sheen of the smooth surfaces and the articulation of the bent fingers and toes into a series
of sharp angles. A comparison with what is arguably the best cast of Giambologna’s Fowler
by Antonio Susini, with Tomasso Brothers Fine Art (see Scultura 2008, no. 12), serves to
corroborate the attribution to the same hand of this pair of Labours of Hercules. The obsessive
neatness and precision of detail of a metalworker who had trained as a goldsmith are the
idiosyncratic hallmarks of Antonio’s workmanship. c.a.
related examples
(Hercules and the Erymanthian Boar): Lord Fauconberg and given to Thomas Worsley, SurveyorGeneral); Liechtenstein, Collection of the Ruling Princes (New York, Liechtenstein: the Princely Collections,
exhibition, 1985, no. 39); London, Wallace Collection (S120, ex-French Crown collection, no. 49)
related literature
J.G. Mann, Wallace Collection Catalogue. Sculpture …, London, 1931; Elisabeth Dhanens, Jean Boulogne,
Brussels, 1956; H.R. Weihrauch, Europäische Bronzestatuetten, Brunswick 1967; C. Avery and A. Radcliffe,
Giambologna, Sculptor to the Medici, exh. cat., Arts Council of Great Britain, London, 1978, nos. 78–79, 87;
A. Radcliffe, ‘Giambologna’s Twelve Labours of Hercules’, The Connoisseur, September 1978, pp. 12–19;
W. Fock, ‘The Original Silver Casts of Giambologna’s Labours of Hercules’, in Studien zum Europäischen
Kunsthandwerk, Festschrift Yvonne Hackenbroch, Munich, 1983, pp. 141–45; C. Avery, Giambologna: The
Complete Sculpture, Oxford, 1987, pp. 141–42, 150, 262, nos. 76, 81, pls. 141, 152; L.O. Larsson, in Prag um
1600: Kunst und Kultur am Hofe Kaiser Rudolfs II., exh. cat., Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, 1988, no.
49; Les Bronzes de le Couronne, exh. cat., Musée du Louvre, Paris, 1999; R. Wenley, French Bronzes in the
Wallace Collection, London, 2002; B. Paolozzi-Strozzi, D. Zikos (eds.), Giambologna – Gli dei, gli Eroi: genesi
e fortuna di uno stile europeo nella scultura, exh. cat., Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence, 2006, pp.
180ff., no. 12; W. Seipel (ed.), Giambologna: Triumph des Körpers, exh. cat., Kunsthistorisches Museum,
Vienna, 2006, pp. 227–30, no. 14
38
40
11.
giovanni francesco susini (active 1592; died 1646),
(after antonio susini active 1580, died 1624)
The Farnese Bull (The Punishment of Dirce)
Bronze, dark olive patina with traces of transculent lacquer
18 x 16 x 15 in. (46 x 40 x 38 cm)
Baldinucci wrote in his Notizie on Antonio Susini (ed. Ranalli, 1846, IV, p. 110) that the
sculptor was greatly esteemed by Giambologna, who sent him to Rome to make copies
of the finest statues in that city. Among these was the Farnese Hercules, of which Susini
made five casts. He must therefore also have known the monumental marble group from
the same collection referred to as the Farnese Bull, which had been found in 1546 in the
Baths of Caracalla and restored by Gian Battista Bianchi in 1579. In fact Antonio Susini
made several bronze statuettes of the ancient marble, though Baldinucci described the
model at some length as being one of the works of Gianfrancesco Susini (ed. Ranalli,
1846, IV, p. 118).
Antonio Susini’s cast in the Galleria Borghese (no. CCXLIX) is inscribed: ANT.II SVSINII
FLOR.I OPVS/A.D.MDCXIII (on the base, between the feet of the man with a rope) and it was
noted in the Borghese collection as early as 1625 by Crulli (Grandezze di Roma, 1625, p. 50v).
Subsequent references of the eighteenth century mention that the bronze was placed on a
pedestal of ebony ornamented with hard stones, which has since been lost. This and the
virtually identical cast in the Hermitage, St Petersburg (no. 1210), are scrupulously careful
reductions of the monumental marble group and the reliefs round its base; the hyper-critical
and perfectionist German critic Winckelmann (Monumenti antichi, [1767] 1830, V, p. 23) noted
on the Borghese statuette only a few discrepancies from the original. Every tiny detail, each
fingernail, for instance, is meticulously executed, while extraordinary variety is achieved in
the drapery patterns and rendering of texture. The small work is a tour de force technically
and offers a vocabulary of Susini’s bronze finishing methods, which were highly praised by
his contemporaries.
Lempriere in his Classical Dictionary tells the rather obscure story: “Dirce was a woman
whom Lycus king of Thebes married after he had divorced Antiope. When Antiope became
pregnant by Jupiter, Dirce suspected her husband of infidelity to her bed, and imprisoned
Antiope, whom she tormented with the greatest cruelty. Antiope escaped from her
confinement, and brought forth Amphion and Zethus on mount Cithæron. When these
children were informed of the cruelties to which their mother had been exposed, they
besieged Thebes, put Lycus to death, and tied the cruel Dirce to the tail of a wild bull,
which dragged her over rocks and precipices, and exposed her to the most poignant pains,
till the gods, pitying her fate, changed her into a fountain, in the neighbourhood of Thebes.”
This spectacular bronze group is expertly cast (in several components invisibly joined
together) and chased. The nude parts of the human bodies and the hides of the little animals
are well polished, while the whole surface of the mound on which the action takes place is
treated with a matt punch in neat lines that carefully follow and emphasize its contours, while
one or two areas are left smooth, by way of contrast.
The group is a massive, hollow cast that conforms inside to the shape of the mound. To
this some figures were attached by shaping the ends of their casting sprues into tangs, which
were then hammered through holes in the mound, for example beneath the rear legs of the
dog, visible from below; or by tapping on a screw thread, to which a nut may be applied, once
it has passed down through a hole bored in the mound, for example the complete
figure of the attendant at the rear right corner.
42
Beneath the collapsed body of Dirce awaiting her punishment thick iron-wire armatures
project down around some refractory material from the core. Some rectangular insertions of
metal (for example when seen from below, one more or less in the centre and others lower
left and upper right corners) are not fixings for figures above, but patches for holes. These
may have been rectangular in the first instance, having been formed in the wax casting model
by iron rods passing through by way of armatures to centre and secure the whole heavy
casting when invested with its core material and plaster cope.
The lower edges of the mound are pleasingly uneven and vary in thickness. At the rear
right corner an extra area of thickness is caused by a repair made with a second run of metal.
The model is probably taken from the same set of cleverly designed piece moulds that were
made by Antonio Susini when he made the several casts that he signed and dated 1613. The
design here is virtually identical, save for a few insignificant details.
Another variation, perhaps introduced to simplify the laborious process of manually
chasing every square centimetre of the surface, is the fact that the rope with which the men
are restraining the bull, by winding it round its horns, is here rendered by a continuous length
of spiral wire, whereas in the cast signed by Antonio the length bound round and strung
between the horns is cast on to the curly crown of hair on the bull’s head. The bony ridge of
the beast’s eyebrows and the sharp breaks in the folds of the cloaks slung round the necks
of Amphion and Zethus, as well as the dress of the female in attendance, have been
smoothed over, again for ease of production. This sort of minor alternation indicates a later
date within the span of activity of the firm of the Susini, and points to the workshop of
Gianfrancesco. Admittedly, the smoother, rounder feel of the piece may also be a reflection
of a change of taste in the early Baroque period away from the stylized, staccato, visual effect
of Giambologna’s and – more pronouncedly – Antonio Susini’s idiosyncratic technical
handling.
Examples of Gianfrancesco Susini’s variant versions mentioned by Baldinucci are thought
to be those in the Liechtenstein Collection (recorded in an inventory of 1658) and the Grünes
Gewölbe, Dresden (bought by Le Plat in Paris in 1715: see Holzhausen, 1933). c.a.
related literature
W. Holzhausen and Edmund Kersting, Prachtgefäße, Geschmeide ... Darin: Verzeichnis der Dresdner
Goldschmiede, Tübingen, 1933; I. Faldi, Galleria Borghese. Le sculture dal secolo XVI al XIX, Rome, 1954,
no. 59; C. Avery and A. Radcliffe, Giambologna, Sculptor to the Medici, exh. cat., Arts Council of Great
Britain, London, 1978, nos. 180–81
44
45
12.
nicolò roccatagliata (b. c. 1560; active 1593; d. before 1636)
Pax of the Pietà, with the Risen Christ
Gilt bronze and copper
9½ x 5¾ in. (24 x 14.5 cm)
This superb artefact is very rare, perhaps even unique, in its combination of an ornate
strapwork frame inhabited by figurines of two baby and two grown-up angels with a
miniature one of the Risen Christ on top. The strapwork frame is typical of the ornate frames
beloved of Venetian artists from marble sculptors to wood carvers, from bronze founders to
gold- or silversmiths. With its figurines in deep relief (their legs and arms are relieved from
the surroundings), it was cast in one with the central, round-headed, scene of the Pietà, in
which, again, the figure of Christ is in quite deep relief, so that his head and right knee, as
well as the Virgin’s head, project strongly outwards.
The physical forms, faces and style of drapery all conform perfectly with the repertoire
of Niccolò Roccatagliata, who was apprenticed for nine years in his native Genoa to a
silversmith, Agostino Groppo, and then his son Cesare (1571–80): indeed, the brilliant,
homogeneous design and high quality of finish point to its being a rare autograph work.
The quotation engraved round the edge of the shield reads, DIXI TV ES SPES MEA (I have
said you are my hope). It is taken from Psalm 141, v. 6 in the Vulgate.
This curious and beautiful pax seems not to be connected with any of the major lay
confraternities of Venice, but may well have been used by a religious order or individual:
today, for instance, it is the motto of two bishops in the world-wide Roman Catholic church.
c.a.
related literature
T. Martin, ‘Roccatagliata’, in J. Turner (ed.), Dictionary of Art, London, 1996, vol. 26, p. 478; C. KryzaGersch, ‘Roccatagliata’, in Antonia Boström (ed.), The Encyclopedia of Sculpture, III, New York and
London, 2004, pp. 1436–38
46
13.
ferdinando tacca (1619–1686)
(after giambologna 1525/29–1608)
Venus after the Bath
Bronze, rich red lacquer
6 in. (17 cm) high
On the death of Pietro Tacca in 1640, his son Ferdinando succeeded him as court sculptor to
Ferdinand II de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, becoming director of the grand-ducal
sculpture workshop and foundry in Borgo Pinti. This confirmed his position as Florence’s
leading sculptor in bronze and, along with Gian Francesco Susini, the last important exponent
of Giambologna’s elegant Mannerist style.
This statuette shares with a version in the Liechtenstein Collection (acquired in the mid
seventeenth century) the fact that it stands directly on the ground, whereas another formerly
in the collection of Baron Hollenden has an integrally cast circular plinth. The details in all
three of these casts are closely similar, but the patina of the present statuette has the
translucent, reddish-gold varnish used for the finest products of the Florentine court bronzemakers, making it highly desirable. This also rules out the suggestion that the author is
Francesco Fanelli, for he never used this particular colour and rarely polished the surface of
the bronze to such a pitch of perfection.
The origin of the model is Giambologna’s beloved, seemingly early, composition of Venus
after the Bath. This variation on the theme is likely to be by a direct follower. The open
expression on the face, which is ultimately derived from the master, and the proto-Baroque
‘swing’ of the figure with which this composition is normally paired (a variant of the classical
Venus Callipygus), are idiosyncrasies of Ferdinando Tacca, and can be found in other
autograph works by him. c.a.
related literature
C. Avery, Giambologna – The Complete Sculpture, London, 1987, pp. 134 and 259, nos. 51–52; Die Bronzen,
Der Fürstlichen Sammlung Liechtenstein, exh. cat., Liebieghauses – Museum alter Plastik, Frankfurt, 1986,
p. 166, no. 11
48
14.
francesco di virgilio fanelli (1578–post 1661)
Cupid astride a Dolphin
Gilt bronze
3¼ x 3 x 2 in. (8.3 x 7.5 x 5 cm)
This energetic miniature group of Cupid astride a Dolphin is the most beautifully chased cast
yet known of a composition that is thoroughly established as by Fanelli, though it is not one
of the models listed in English royal and noble collections in the early seventeenth century. It
is stylistically related to the small figure of Cupid on a documented bronze by Fanelli, Cupid
on Horseback, an example of which was once in the collection of King Charles I at Whitehall
Palace. A good cast of this composition is now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, while
several others exist. Fanelli was the best of the Caroline court sculptors and specialized in
small bronzes, often of equine subjects; he always wrought slight variations of gesture and
detail manually in the wax models before casting into bronze, so that each resultant statuette
was unique.
On the present example, the face and snout of the dolphin are matt-punched and the
remainder of its body is scaly, as though it were a fish, with the outlines minutely dotted in.
The feathers of Cupid’s wings – and even the tiny flèches of the arrows in his quiver – are
painstakingly chased, as is his tousled, wind-swept hair, while his facial features are expertly
delineated and his eyes given distinct pupils.
A similar, though simpler, variant of the present model in silver, holding under its right
arm a shell and stretching out the other arm, was used to crown a silver table-fountain that
was manufactured in Paris and bears a hallmark used between 30 December 1661 and 2 July
1663. It must have reached England by 1698, for it was copied then by an English silversmith
(now in the J. Paul Getty Museum, acc. no. 82.DG.17). The finial could be part of the original
design and therefore made in Paris, for by 1661 Fanelli was in that city, where he published a
volume of engravings presumably in the hope of attracting patronage, Varie Architetture di
Francesco Fanelli fiorentino scultore del Re della Gran Bretagna. Alternatively, the figurine could
have been added after its import into London. In either case it is interesting to note how
Fanelli’s vivid little compositions attracted silversmiths and their patrons, too. This
masterpiece in miniature is so refined as to be beyond any doubt the work of the master
himself. c.a.
related literature
G. Wilson, ‘The Kedleston Fountain: Its Development from a Seventeenth-century Vase’, The J. Paul
Getty Museum Journal, vol. ii, 1983, pp. 1–12; C. Avery, ‘Fanelli’s Cupid on a Dolphin’, in ‘Important
European Sculpture and Works of Art’, Christie’s Magazine, Nov.–Dec. 1988, pp. 46–47 ; C. Avery,
‘Fanelli’s Cupid on a Dolphin Mount on a Wanli Porcelain Ewer’, in Studies in Italian Sculpture, London,
2001, pp. 425–30; C. Avery, A School of Dolphins, London, 2009, pp. 40–55
50
15.
florentine , 17th century
giambologna ⁄ antonio susini
(Follower of )
A Lion savaging a Bull
9¼ x 9 in. (23.5 x 23 cm)
A Lion savaging a Horse
9 x 11½ in. (25 x 29 cm)
Bronze, rich golden red lacquer
The models of a Lion attacking a Horse and a Lion attacking a Bull have to be considered
together, for they were patently designed as a pair. No known example of either composition
bears the signature of Giambologna, though several are signed by Antonio Susini, but they
are both listed among his authentic models by Markus Zeh (1611) – “Un gruppo d’un lione
ch’ammazo un cavallo”; “Un gruppo d’un lione ch’uccide un toro” – and by Baldinucci (1688) –
“Il Cavallo ucciso dal Leone”; “Il Toro ucciso dal Tigre” (Dhanens 1956, pp. 73–74; p. 391). They
also feature in Baldinucci’s list of statuettes cast by Gianfrancesco Susini after Giambologna’s
models (ed. Ranalli, 1846, IV, p. 118); in this, later, context he should have said ‘a tiger’ with a
bull, for two casts with this feline (spotted, not striped) exist, one in the Liechtenstein
Collection and the other (discovered by the present writer) now in the Frick Collection,
New York.
The Lion attacking a Horse is freely derived from a full-scale but fragmentary Graeco-Roman
prototype depicting the subject, which is now in the Garden of the Palazzo dei Conservatori
in Rome (see London 1978, no. 174): the variations of the present model from this original in
its current condition presumably reflect the difference between Giambologna’s ‘restoration’ of
the missing heads and that of the sculptor who actually repaired the original in 1594. The Lion
attacking a Bull is also derived from Graeco-Roman prototypes (see Sturgeon 1975–76).
The two closely integrated compositions bear witness to Giambologna’s continuing
fascination with ancient sculpture, as well as his awakening interest in animal subjects, once
he had mastered the human form. In the absence of any signed primary examples of these
bronzes, it is dangerous to be dogmatic about the various slightly different treatments of
pose, detail and surface, as well as bases, which are to be found in different versions.
The salient details on both groups, such as the incisions made by the lion’s claws in their
victims’ hides, their dilated eyes and mane and the inside of the horse’s and bull’s open
mouths, teeth, tongues and palates, are sharply rendered. On the other hand, the flowing hair
on the lions’ manes, the tufts on the tips of their tails and the horse’s tail are left freely
flowing, as cast, which serves to convey the effect of movement, as the animals thrash about
in conflict. The mounds on which the animals are set are rough-cast, or only sporadically
filed, so as to render the rough ground more naturally than had been the practice of
Ferdinando Tacca or Gianfrancesco Susini, who treated them with lines of matt-punching
in rather ornamental – but not at all life-like – patterns resembling more the whorls on a
fingerprint. c.a.
related literature
M. Sturgeon, ‘A Hellenistic Lion-Bull Group in Oberlin’, Allen Memorial Art Museum Bulletin, XXXIII,
1975–76, pp. 28–43; C. Avery and A. Radcliffe, Giambologna, Sculptor to the Medici, exh. cat., Arts Council
of Great Britain, London, 1978, nos. 170–73
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53
54
16.
joseph willems (c. 1715–1766)
A Black Man in Ragged Clothes with a Bowl
Terracotta
29 in. (74 cm) high
Signed: Jph Willems and dated 1736
provenance: Gaston Palewski (1901–1984); inherited by his wife, Violette Palewski (née
Talleyrand); Mme la Duchesse de Sagan; thence by descent
Joseph Willems, known in England as ‘Williams’, was a talented sculptor in the Flemish
tradition. In about 1750 he moved to England, where he became a famous modeller. He
exhibited at the Society of Artists between 1760 and 1766 in addition to teaching drawing and
modelling.
The present unpublished terracotta statuette of an unusual subject is the earliest by
Willems that is known: he was really quite young when he made it and had not yet married
(1739). It belongs to a long-standing tradition in the Low Countries of terracotta models that
were the equivalent of paintings of ‘low life’ genre – figures that were very popular with the
bourgeoisie in what are now the Netherlands and Belgium. The terracotta scenarios of
individual figures and groups in courtrooms and elsewhere made by Pieter Xavery in the
1670s (such as the Vierschaar in the Museum Het Lakenhaal in Leiden) come to mind, and
such figures often show beggars or peasants in tattered clothing. However, Willems seems to
be taking a different approach here, for – despite the torn trousers – this impoverished black
man with a bowl is given a certain grave nobility by his stance, attitude and finely modelled
features. By the mid eighteenth century, of course, black people were not at all uncommon in
Europe and were not necessarily slaves. Most were domestic servants, though some were
pugilists and others served on ships in the Navy.
A distant, though possible, prototype for this kind of representation in monumental
sculpture is to be found in the four powerful statues of African slaves who support the
pompous monument of Doge Giovanni Pesaro in the Frari church in Venice. These are
carved in white marble, using black marble for the skin parts, and function as caryatids, with
sacks on their shoulders, instead of having classical basket-capitals on their heads. They were
carved by a Flemish artist, Juste le Court (1627–1679), known in Venice as Giusto il Corte.
Willems’s eye-catching terracotta is an extremely interesting discovery both for the
ethnographic and sociological aspects of its unusual subject and because it adds another
dimension to the activity of its author, who is otherwise mainly known for making small
models for rendering in porcelain.
In 1764 Mrs Mary ‘Williams’, Willems’s wife, died, and it has been suggested in the recent
Biographical Dictionary of Sculptors in Britain (2009) that he took as a second wife the widowed
mother of Joseph Nollekens, Mrs Mary Anne Nollekens. The Biographical Dictionary refers to
her second husband as “a person of the name of Williams, an inferior statuary, who modelled
for the Chelsea Porcelain Manufactory and who went to Flanders where he died”. The basis
of this reference to Flanders could well be Willems’s return to Tournai to work at the
porcelain factory there. He remained in Tournai until his death on 1 November 1766. c.a.
related literature
A. Lane, ‘Chelsea Porcelain Figures and the Modeller Joseph Willems’, Connoisseur, May 1960,
pp. 245–51; N. Penny, Catalogue of European Sculpture in the Ashmolean Museum, 1540 to the Present Day,
Volume III: British, Oxford, 1992, p. 185, nos. 593–94; I. Roscoe, E. Hardy and M.G. Sullivan (eds.), A
Biographical Dictionary of Sculptors in Britain 1660–1851, New Haven and London, 2009, s.v.
56
57
17.
joseph claus (1718–1788)
Bust of the Emperor Caracalla (reigned A.D. 198–217) of the Farnese type
White marble
28 in. (71.5 cm) high
Signed and dated: josephus claus fecit 1757 on the central black pilaster, and monogrammed IC
on the termination’s back rim
Joseph Claus’s Bust of Caracalla is a milestone in the development of early Neoclassicism
in Rome, a signature work by one of the most accomplished German sculptors of the
eighteenth century, and a highly original and successful interpretation of one of the most
venerated and influential ancient portraits. In a rare combination of the sitter’s vigorous
movement, brute force, expressive power, emotional rage and mental determination on the
one hand, and on the other hand the finely nuanced rendering of the most minute details,
the crisp texture of the sitter’s hair, and the smooth surfaces of his cloak with its deep
undercuttings, the sculptor pulled out all the stops to play the entire gamut of the different
and even opposing qualities of the portrait.
Ever since Michelangelo had adapted the vehement gesture of the Farnese Caracalla’s head
turning sideways for his Bust of Brutus, time and again the ancient bust served as a model for
portraiture from the Renaissance through Neoclassicism. It was on view in the ducal family’s
palace in Rome until 1787, when it was shipped together with the rest of the collection to
Naples, where it is now displayed in the National Archeological Museum.
Joseph Claus not only attempted – very successfully – to copy the ancient model as
precisely as possible, but indeed carefully to better it in certain aspects, reconstructing it to
its original state. As is to be expected of a sculpture of a certain age, on the original Farnese
Caracalla the surfaces are abraded, multiple chips are filled in with plaster, and smaller and
larger parts have been visibly restored. Even some of the stains in the marble, which probably
resulted from the oil used in the process of taking plaster casts from it, may have been visible
already in the eighteenth century. By contrast, the Caracalla by Claus is carved of a single block
of marble (“ex una lapide”), the surfaces are pristine and beaming, and no repairs disturb the
admiring eye.
But it was not only the ancient model with which Claus competed. Interestingly, within a
few years two other protagonists of early Neoclassical statuary in Rome carried out copies
after the Farnese Caracalla with similar intent. Francis Harwood carved his signed and dated
Bust of Caracalla (private collection, England) in 1763. Bartolomeo Cavaceppi signed his Bust of
Caracalla ( J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles), but he did not date it; however, on stylistical
grounds it is datable into the same years as Claus’s and Cavaceppi’s versions. Far from merely
responding to a strong demand for copies of the famous ancient bust from Grand Tourists,
the fact that all these artists proudly signed their Caracalla busts demonstrates that they were
keen to have their achievements recognized in perpetuity, and worked in tacit competition
with one another.
Whereas Claus is generally not as well known as Harwood or Cavaceppi, and he has not
received the scholarly attention he deserves, there can be little doubt as to his position at
the forefront of the earliest generation of Neoclassical sculptors. Among German sculptors,
he was the first artist to adopt the Neoclassical ideal and idiom. He was already in Rome
when Johann Joachim Winckelmann arrived there in November 1755. But he should also
be considered part of English art history, given his several patrons from Albion’s shores,
60
and of Italian art history, for Claus had settled in Rome as a young man and was active there
until his death.
Since he was born in Bonn, within the archdiocese of Cologne, it is probably no
coincidence that Claus’s first certain work is a Bust of Clemens August von Wittelsbach,
Archbishop and Elector of Cologne. This bust, which is signed and dated 1754, is now in the
Lady Lever Art Gallery in Port Sunlight, south of Liverpool. Claus’s cycle of busts of the
reigning pope and his three immediate predecessors – Innocent XIII (reigned 1721–24), Benedict
XIII (1724–30), Clement XII (1730–40) and Benedict XIV (1740–58), which are all now at the
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford – proves the sculptor’s further favour in ecclesiastical circles.
Interestingly, according to the dates on the reverses, Claus finished the bust of Benedict XIV
first (signed josephus claus fecit anno 1754), whereas the busts of the pope’s three predecessors
were completed in the following year (they are signed josephus claus jnven. et fecit 1755). This
suggests that the bust of Benedict XIV may have served as a trial piece, which perhaps
impressed the unknown patron enough to prompt him to order the three additional busts
from Claus.
The papal busts at the Ashmolean Museum are excellent examples of the sculptor’s
technical skills, and testify to his stylistic vicinity to Cavaceppi. Further busts of his can be
found at Madresfield Court, Worcestershire (the house which legendarily served as a model
for Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited) and at the Rhode Island School of Design in
Providence. All these works show the same attention to detail and perfection as the Caracalla,
for instance in the fine creases of the collars, or in the differentiation of textures. Moreover,
these busts all share clean surfaces, even on the architecturally constructed backs, which are
finished to a much higher degree than one might expect.
Apart from portrait busts, copies after the antique appear to have been Claus’s second
speciality, as is demonstrated by his copy of the Tribuna Apollino at Brocklesby Park,
Lincolnshire, which is signed and dated Josephus Claus fecit 1766. Being both a bust and an
interpretive copy after the antique, the present Bust of Caracalla unites both areas of Claus’s
activity and is representative of his art as is no other known work.
Even with nine certain sculptures ranging from 1754 to 1766 identified, much further study
is needed in order to reconstruct the artist’s career. But the existing oeuvre alone attests to
Claus’s stellar rank and to his precocious Neoclassical tendencies. Even with documentation
on the sculptor’s later years still almost completely lacking, one scrap of evidence at hand is
significant enough. In 1783, Antonio Canova (who had arrived in Rome in December 1780)
took over Claus’s workshop in the Vicolo delle Colonnette di San Giacomo degli Incurabili.
It may not be too daring to claim that this moment, in which Claus, by then 65 years old,
handed over the baton to Canova, marked the vernal equinox of the age of Neoclassicism.
e.s.
related literature
G. Taylor, ‘Uno scultore ignoto: Joseph Claus’, Bollettino d’arte, vol. iii, 1952, pp. 231–33; F. Haskell and
N. Penny, Taste and the Antique: The Lure of Classical Sculpture, 1500–1900, New Haven and London, 1981,
pp. 172–73, no. 18; N. Penny, Catalogue of European Sculpture in the Ashmolean Museum, 1540 to the Present
Day, 3 vols., Oxford, 1992, vol. 1, nos. 22–25, pp. 27–28; P. Fogelman, P. Fusco and M. Cambareri, Italian
and Spanish Sculpture: Catalogue of the J. Paul Getty Museum Collection, Los Angeles, 2002, pp. 300–05,
no. 38 (entry by P. Fogelman)
62
18.
josse-françois-joseph leriche (1738–1812)
An Allegorical Bust of Autumn
Painted terracotta
26½ in. (67.3 cm) high
Signed: Leriche.fecit.1773
This Allegory of Autumn as an elegant young woman was sculpted by Josse-François-Joseph
Leriche (or Le Riche) in 1773. It corresponds to a series of allegorical busts of the Seasons
carved by Leriche in marble. The terracotta, however, is the only known bust by Leriche in
this medium, and is therefore of marked importance.
Leriche was born in Mons, yet established his career at Sèvres – first a royal and then an
imperial porcelain factory – as a sculptor. He entered the factory in 1757 as one of two
principal modellers under the direction of Etienne-Maurice Falconet. In 1780 he replaced
Falconet as director of sculpture. In this role, from 1780 to 1801, Leriche both fashioned
hardpaste biscuit porcelain models of his own invention and adjusted the models of other
sculptors, such as Louis-Simon Boizot (1743–1809), for reproduction. Leriche was recognized
for his portraiture, although his most inspired works were of allegorical and mythological
themes in a manner similar to François Boucher (1703–1770). He began executing these ideas
after 1767.
While he was chef des sculpteurs (head sculptor) at Sèvres, Leriche marked his biscuit
sculpture with the initials LR. (Sèvres 2001, p. 25). His large-scale sculptures, however, were
always signed with his name and dated in the same manner as the present bust. There are five
known marble allegorical busts of the seasons by Leriche – a pair of Summer and Winter,
formerly French private collection; a single Summer formerly in the collection of Dr A.
Hamilton Rice, New York, by April 1951 (Frick Art Reference Library negative number 39912);
and a pair of Summer and Winter on view in the entrance of the Hôtel de Crillon, Paris. There
is no known Spring and the present bust is the only known Autumn in terracotta or marble.
Each of the busts displays the long neck, almond-shaped eyes and billowing drapery that
epitomize Rococo exuberance. In contrast to the marbles, the freshness of the surface of the
terracotta lends vibrancy to the present bust. c.m.
related literature
S. Lami, Dictionnaire des Sculpteurs au XVIIIe siècle, Paris, 1911, p. 74; Falconet à Sèvres ou l’art de plaire, exh.
cat., Musée National de céramique, Sèvres, 2001
64
65
19.
joseph chinard (1756–1813)
Portrait of a Man, 1806
White marble
27½ in. (67.3 cm) high
Signed: Chinard de Lyon
Joseph Chinard was one of the greatest portraitists of his age. Born in Lyons to a family of
silk merchants, he first trained under the painter Donat Nonotte at the Ecole Royale de
Dessin in Lyons. He then worked with the local sculptor Barthélemy Blaise (1738–1819) and by
1780 he was working independently. Thanks to a local patron Chinard was able to go to
Rome, where he remained until 1787, with a further visit in 1791–92, when he was briefly
imprisoned for having upset the papal authorities. Back in Lyons Chinard received numerous
public commissions and put his art to the service of the French Revolution. He visited Paris
for the first time in 1795 and became part of the circle of the Lyonnais banker Jacques
Récamier, whose beautiful wife, Juliette, would be the sitter for some of his most exquisite
portrait busts. During the Consulate and the Empire Chinard enjoyed tremendous success.
Napoleon’s military campaigns offered him a new heroic iconography and he received a
number of public commissions while producing portrait busts of members of the Imperial
court. During the last five years of his life Chinard divided his time between Paris and Lyons,
exhibiting regularly at the Paris Salon. Most of the works exhibited were portrait busts,
forming a remarkable gallery of the personalities of early nineteenth-century France.
Chinard’s mastery of marble carving and terracotta modelling enabled him to create
distinctive images combining stylization and realism. In these refined portraits, including
the present bust, the artist paid great attention to fashion details such as hair and costume
arrangements.
This superb marble, hitherto unpublished, shows a man with his head slightly tilted to the
right gazing off into the distance. His handsome face, full of character, is framed by carefully
arranged hair with rich and deep curls. The sitter wears an elegant civil costume with a high
collar. Chinard’s attention to detail is obvious in the finely carved lace jabot and the delicately
rendered ornament and buttons on the coat. Indeed, it is this extraordinary meticulousness
that has allowed the bust to be dated. The sitter bears the prestigious insignia of the Légion
d’honneur (the legion of honour; a star with Napoleon’s profile) and of the Ordre de la
Couronne de Fer (order of the iron crown; an eagle with a crown). The Légion d’honneur
was established by Napoleon in 1802 when he was First Consul and is still the highest
decoration in France, while the Couronne de Fer was created in 1805 and did not survive the
Empire. The medal of the Légion d’honneur, consisting of a crown surmounting the star, is
that of the second type and therefore dates from the year 1806; a third type was issued in 1807.
These orders were given as a reward to soldiers and civilians. A large number of individuals
received the distinctions but unfortunately the sitter of the present bust has yet to be
identified. It is hoped that his identity will be revealed during the course of further research
currently taking place. s.r.
66
20.
john gibson (1790–1866)
(Attributed to)
Female Classical Bust
White marble
19½ in. (49.2 cm) high
John Gibson initiated his studies in Liverpool and his first important individual commission,
whilst working for the firm of Samuel and Thomas Franceys, was a monument to the famous
Henry Blundell, which was erected in Sefton church, Lancashire, in 1813. At an early age
Gibson set his sights on visiting Rome, where he arrived on 20 October 1817, and quickly met
the most famous artist of his time – Antonio Canova – who invited him to study in his studio
as well as at the Academy of St Luke. His first major patron was the Duke of Devonshire, for
whom he carved a Mars and Cupid. Gibson had a lifetime love of Rome,
only returning to England for a few years of his life, most notably upon the command of
Queen Victoria, to carve a statue of her in 1844.
John Gibson was the chief exponent of the British school of sculptors working during and
after the lifetime of Canova; this school included Lawrence Macdonald, Joseph Gott and
Richard James Wyatt. He established his own studio in the eternal city in 1821, situated just off
Via del Babuino. One of Gibson’s most famous ideas was to reintroduce the tinting of white
marble statues, of which his best known example is The Tinted Venus that now forms part of
the collection at the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool.
Gibson led a happy life and is famously known to have remarked, “I worked on all my days
happily and with ever new pleasure, avoiding evil and with a calm soul; making images not
for worship but for the love of the beautiful”.
Harriet Hosmer, the great American sculptress of the nineteenth century, was his favourite
pupil, and is known to have said of him: “He is God in his studio, but God help him out of
it”. He is also known to have taught other great sculptors, including William Theed II,
Richard Westmacott III and Ireland’s great Neoclassical sculptor John Hogan.
The sitter of the present bust has not so far been identified, although this may perhaps
be the bust mentioned by Gunnis (1968, p. 173) as “A Greek girl”, formerly at Ilam Hall,
Staffordshire, England, which remains untraced.
related literature
R. Gunnis, Dictionary of British Sculptors 1660–1851, London, 1968; I. Roscoe, E. Hardy and M.G. Sullivan,
A Biographical Dictionary of Sculptors in Britain, New Haven and London, 2009
70
Copyright © 2010 Tomasso Brothers Fine Art
Bardon Hall, Weetwood Lane, Leeds, ls16 8hj, England
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any storage or retrieval system, without the
prior permission in writing from the copyright holders and publisher.
isbn 978 1 907372 15 5
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Produced by Paul Holberton publishing, 89 Borough High Street, London se1 1nl
www.paul-holberton.net
Designed by Peter Campbell
Lithography and printing by E-graphic, Verona, Italy
front cover: cat. 20. joseph willems, A Black Man in Ragged Clothes with a Bowl
back cover: cat. 16. ferdinando tacca after giambologna, Venus after the Bath
front flap: cat. 8. guglielmo della porta, Head of a Cherub
back flap: cat. 19. joseph chinard, Portrait of a Man
frontispiece: cat. 13. antonio susini after a model by giambologna, Hercules and Antaeus
page 6: cat. 18. josse-françois-joseph leriche, An Allegorical Bust of Autumn
page 8: cat. 20. john gibson, Female Classical Bust
72