AFTER BARTOLOMEO BELLANO, PROBABLY LATE 15TH OR EARLY 16TH CENTURY

Details

A BRONZE FIGURE OF DAVID
AFTER BARTOLOMEO BELLANO, PROBABLY LATE 15TH OR EARLY 16TH CENTURY
Depicted standing, with a sword in his right hand and Goliath's head at his feet; on an integrally cast plinth indistinctly inscribed in red on the underside with the inventory number '227'; on a modern square french red marble base; blackish brown patina with warm brown high points; minor chips to base
9¼ in. (23.5 cm.) high; 10 3/8 in. (26.3 cm.) high, overall

Provenance

Purchased by Alfred (1853-1906) or Otto Beit (1865-1930) between 1904 and 1913.
Thence by descent to Lady (Clementine) Beit (1915-2005) by whom donated to the Alfred Beit Foundation in 2005.

Literature

W. Bode, Catalogue of the Collection of Pictures and Bronzes in the Possession of Mr. Otto Beit, London, 1913, p. 109, no. 227, as 'Bartolomeo Bellano'.
COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:
J. Pope-Hennessy, The Frick Collection, An Illustrated Catalogue, III, Sculpture - Italian, New York, 1970, pp. 67-71.
Berlin, Skulpturensammlung Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Von Allen Seiten Schön - Bronzen der Renaissance und des Barock, 31 Oct. 1995 - 28 Jan. 1996, V. Krahn ed., no. 4, pp. 136-137.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

Bartolomeo Bellano (circa 1437-1498), who is thought to have worked with Donatello toward the end of the latter's life, is one of the most important bronze sculptors of the quattrocento. The present figure is based on his gilt-bronze statuette in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (illustrated and discussed in Berlin, loc. cit.) which was widely reproduced in its own day. The composition here shows Bellano's indebtedness to his master, whose bronze of the same subject is now housed in the Bargello, Florence.

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