.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Described in 1639 by Abraham van der Doort as 'the one eyed Italian', Fanelli referred to himself as being a Florentine, however, the first definite record of his activities is in Genoa in 1608. He was still in Genoa in 1630 but moved shortly thereafter to England as he was being paid a pension by Charles I in 1635.
The fascination the English had with Fanelli must have originally stemmed from the fact that, at the time, his art was considered to be something of a novelty and his appointment as Court Sculptor to Charles I certainly did his reputation no harm. However, it is in looking at his oeuvre with present-day eyes, that it becomes obvious how his bronzes were, and still remain, desirable for far more erudite reasons. One need only look at the present lot of a Rearing Horse to see the playful nature of his compositions. Unlike his predecessors Giambologna, Antonio Susini and Pietro Tacca, Fanelli's bronzes are less laboured in their modelling and are instead more spontaneous and vigorous.
A number of casts exist of this model each with minor variations in the tail or simply cast in reverse, such as a version in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, (Pope-Hennessy, loc. cit.) although this model also includes a figure of Cupid on the horse's back, another in the Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio (Wixom, loc. cit.), and a much less fine version sold in Christie's, London, 7 July 2005, lot 439 (£45,600) paired with a Bull after Barthélemy Prieur.
The fascination the English had with Fanelli must have originally stemmed from the fact that, at the time, his art was considered to be something of a novelty and his appointment as Court Sculptor to Charles I certainly did his reputation no harm. However, it is in looking at his oeuvre with present-day eyes, that it becomes obvious how his bronzes were, and still remain, desirable for far more erudite reasons. One need only look at the present lot of a Rearing Horse to see the playful nature of his compositions. Unlike his predecessors Giambologna, Antonio Susini and Pietro Tacca, Fanelli's bronzes are less laboured in their modelling and are instead more spontaneous and vigorous.
A number of casts exist of this model each with minor variations in the tail or simply cast in reverse, such as a version in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, (Pope-Hennessy, loc. cit.) although this model also includes a figure of Cupid on the horse's back, another in the Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio (Wixom, loc. cit.), and a much less fine version sold in Christie's, London, 7 July 2005, lot 439 (£45,600) paired with a Bull after Barthélemy Prieur.