Lot Essay
This extremely expressive bronze caryatid would originally have been one of a pair, or set of four, and adorned the front of an architectural ensemble. In form, function and size, it is closely comparable to a pair of bronze caryatids attributed to Agostino Zoppo in Klosterneuburg and dated to circa 1555 (discussed in Trento, Castello del Buonconsiglio, La Bellissima Maniera - Alessandro Vittoria e la scultura veneta del Cinquecento, 25 June - 26 September 1999, no. 17). However it is to the work of Zoppo's contemporary, Danese Cataneo, that the present bronze is stylistically most comparable. Among a number of works which one might cite, a bronze relief by Cataneo on the monument to Leonardo Loredan (SS. Giovanni e Paolo, Venice) includes a seated nude rivergod figure which has a similarly rendered torso and the same distinctively modelled hair and beard, with their strongly defined and luxuriant curls.