Lot Essay
The present bronze is virtually identical to a bronze in the Victoria and Albert Museum (no. A. 168-1929), which is initialled G.P., and has been attributed to a sculptor called Girolamo Paliari. Paliari, who worked in the style of Girolamo Campagna, is known to have executed the bronze gates of the altar in the Basilica del Santo at Padua (Sartori, and Lorenzoni, locs. cit.). He was also responsible for the Doctors of the Church on the altar balustrade in San Marco in Venice (Boucher, loc. cit.).
This type of bronze statuette of a female nude was exceptionally popular among Venetian sculptors of the late 16th and early 17th centuries. What is unusual about the present example is the identity of the figure: she holds dice in her left hand, and is therefore presumably Fortuna. For obvious reasons, Fortune's wheel was commonly avoided by sculptors.
This type of bronze statuette of a female nude was exceptionally popular among Venetian sculptors of the late 16th and early 17th centuries. What is unusual about the present example is the identity of the figure: she holds dice in her left hand, and is therefore presumably Fortuna. For obvious reasons, Fortune's wheel was commonly avoided by sculptors.