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Lot Essay
Cast on an impressive scale, the present bronze group depicts the mythological father and son, Aeneas and Anchises. Aeneas, the product of his father’s seduction by Venus, is the main character of Virgil’s epic Latin poem, The Aeneid, which describes the wanderings of the Trojan people to find a new home after the fall of Troy. Aeneas eventually leads them to Italy and among his descendants are Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome. The scene depicted here shows Aeneas carrying his elderly father from the burning city of Troy, a popular subject among artists of the 17th century, and a symbol of filial devotion.
Earlier in the 17th century, the same subject was executed in marble by the young Bernini (now Villa Borghese, Rome) and in the early 18th century it was depicted by the French sculptor Pierre Lepautre (d. 1744). The latter composition – like the marble by Bernini – also included Aeneas’ young son Ascanius. Executed in marble between 1696 and 1718, it was originally situated at the chateau de Marly, and is now in the Louvre. It is known in numerous bronze casts of the 18th and 19th centuries.
The present bronze differs significantly from both these models and appears to be a unique cast, possibly the product of a specific commission. Like the Bernini marble, the lot offered here is a relatively contained composition, however the psychological content is quite different. In the marble, Bernini has depicted the father and son each looking into the distance as if lost in their private thoughts on the disaster that has befallen them. The author of the present bronze has completely altered the dynamic between the two figures; Anchises looks weary and resigned, but the fierce expression of Aeneas, staring intently at his father, binds the two of them together, as does the placement of both men’s arms.
The marble by Lepautre contains elements of both these groups. More outward looking than the present bronze, all three characters look off in different directions, yet Lepautre has maintained some of the physical closeness through the positioning of Anchises’ body alongside that of his son, as well as Aeneas’ firm grip around his father’s waist. The inclusion by Lepautre of the young Ascanius, as well as the architectural fragment at Aeneas’ feet, also make it a more complex, yet less psychologically compelling group than the present example.
When searching for an author for the present bronze group it is worth referencing the work of the sculptor Pierre Puget (1620-1694), who began his career in his native Marseilles before travelling to Italy where his reputation as a painter and a sculptor spread. He had further stints in France and Italy but only secured important commissions from the French court relatively late in his life. Among these were his large marble groups of Milo of Croton, Perseus and Andromeda, and the relief of Diogenes and Alexander the Great, all now in the Louvre (see Souchal, op. cit., nos. 19, 24 and 22).
However it is another bronze which shows the greatest similarities to the present lot. Between 1683 and 1688 Puget carved a marble group of the Abduction of Helen by Paris (now Museo di Sant’ Agostino, Genoa). It is a complex group, with four figures, the prow of a ship and dolphins on the base. Closely similar reductions in bronze exist but it is a simplified, two figure variant (one example in the musée de l’Union des arts décoratifs, Paris, see Pierre Puget, op. cit., no.54, pp. 156-7) that is the most relevant for the present discussion. Not only does the abduction of Helen precipitate the war which would ultimately lead to the sacking of Troy, thereby relating the two groups iconographically, but the positioning of the two figures is also closely comparable. The male figure is particularly reminiscent of the figure of Aeneas in the present lot, gripping Helen around the waist tightly, gazing up into her face and bracing himself with legs akimbo. It would suggest that the author of the bronze offered here had knowledge of Puget’s Abduction of Helen, and was working in his immediate circle.
Earlier in the 17th century, the same subject was executed in marble by the young Bernini (now Villa Borghese, Rome) and in the early 18th century it was depicted by the French sculptor Pierre Lepautre (d. 1744). The latter composition – like the marble by Bernini – also included Aeneas’ young son Ascanius. Executed in marble between 1696 and 1718, it was originally situated at the chateau de Marly, and is now in the Louvre. It is known in numerous bronze casts of the 18th and 19th centuries.
The present bronze differs significantly from both these models and appears to be a unique cast, possibly the product of a specific commission. Like the Bernini marble, the lot offered here is a relatively contained composition, however the psychological content is quite different. In the marble, Bernini has depicted the father and son each looking into the distance as if lost in their private thoughts on the disaster that has befallen them. The author of the present bronze has completely altered the dynamic between the two figures; Anchises looks weary and resigned, but the fierce expression of Aeneas, staring intently at his father, binds the two of them together, as does the placement of both men’s arms.
The marble by Lepautre contains elements of both these groups. More outward looking than the present bronze, all three characters look off in different directions, yet Lepautre has maintained some of the physical closeness through the positioning of Anchises’ body alongside that of his son, as well as Aeneas’ firm grip around his father’s waist. The inclusion by Lepautre of the young Ascanius, as well as the architectural fragment at Aeneas’ feet, also make it a more complex, yet less psychologically compelling group than the present example.
When searching for an author for the present bronze group it is worth referencing the work of the sculptor Pierre Puget (1620-1694), who began his career in his native Marseilles before travelling to Italy where his reputation as a painter and a sculptor spread. He had further stints in France and Italy but only secured important commissions from the French court relatively late in his life. Among these were his large marble groups of Milo of Croton, Perseus and Andromeda, and the relief of Diogenes and Alexander the Great, all now in the Louvre (see Souchal, op. cit., nos. 19, 24 and 22).
However it is another bronze which shows the greatest similarities to the present lot. Between 1683 and 1688 Puget carved a marble group of the Abduction of Helen by Paris (now Museo di Sant’ Agostino, Genoa). It is a complex group, with four figures, the prow of a ship and dolphins on the base. Closely similar reductions in bronze exist but it is a simplified, two figure variant (one example in the musée de l’Union des arts décoratifs, Paris, see Pierre Puget, op. cit., no.54, pp. 156-7) that is the most relevant for the present discussion. Not only does the abduction of Helen precipitate the war which would ultimately lead to the sacking of Troy, thereby relating the two groups iconographically, but the positioning of the two figures is also closely comparable. The male figure is particularly reminiscent of the figure of Aeneas in the present lot, gripping Helen around the waist tightly, gazing up into her face and bracing himself with legs akimbo. It would suggest that the author of the bronze offered here had knowledge of Puget’s Abduction of Helen, and was working in his immediate circle.