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Lot Essay
Giovanni Bandini trained originally under the sculptor Baccio Bandinelli, and in the early decades of his career he worked so extensively for the Florentine cathedral works that he came to be known as 'Giovanni dell’Opera.' He eventually made a name for himself as an important sculptural portraitist and in 1582, he was called by the Duke of Urbino, Francesca Maria II della Rovere, Duke of Urbino, to work for him in Pesaro. Bandini worked for the Duke until 1595, when he took up an important commission for the cathedral at Pisa.
The present figures are rare surviving examples of bronzed terracotta with a technique of applying coppery metal foil over the surface to resemble bronze. They can almost certainly be connected to a payment made by the Duke to Bandini in November 1585 for statues of Mars and Vulcan (‘le statue di Marte e Vulcano’). This commission for the last Duke of Urbino, evokes the distinct style Bandini reserved for use in the court at Urbino. Both highly expressive, Mars with his armor and fierce gaze appears to depict the patron’s father, Duke Francesco Maria I della Rovere, an important military commander whom Bandini represented in portraiture on other occasions; Vulcan’s visage appears slightly older and an equal tour de force with his slender nose, sage and considered gaze, finely articulated wrinkles and full locks of hair.
No other versions of these models are known in any medium. However, if these figures were conceived as studies for later works, the medium would likely have been marble. The supports included beside the legs of each figure would provide the necessary strength for the figures to be carved in marble but would not be needed for a bronze cast to remain free-standing.
A thermoluminescence test dated 23 September 1993, Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, University of Oxford, sample 581k86, dates the last firing of Mars 450 to 700 years prior, i.e.1293-1543. Another thermoluminescence test dated 25 November 1993, Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, University of Oxford, sample 581m75, dates the last firing of Vulcan 300 to 500 years prior, i.e. 1493-1693.
The present figures are rare surviving examples of bronzed terracotta with a technique of applying coppery metal foil over the surface to resemble bronze. They can almost certainly be connected to a payment made by the Duke to Bandini in November 1585 for statues of Mars and Vulcan (‘le statue di Marte e Vulcano’). This commission for the last Duke of Urbino, evokes the distinct style Bandini reserved for use in the court at Urbino. Both highly expressive, Mars with his armor and fierce gaze appears to depict the patron’s father, Duke Francesco Maria I della Rovere, an important military commander whom Bandini represented in portraiture on other occasions; Vulcan’s visage appears slightly older and an equal tour de force with his slender nose, sage and considered gaze, finely articulated wrinkles and full locks of hair.
No other versions of these models are known in any medium. However, if these figures were conceived as studies for later works, the medium would likely have been marble. The supports included beside the legs of each figure would provide the necessary strength for the figures to be carved in marble but would not be needed for a bronze cast to remain free-standing.
A thermoluminescence test dated 23 September 1993, Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, University of Oxford, sample 581k86, dates the last firing of Mars 450 to 700 years prior, i.e.1293-1543. Another thermoluminescence test dated 25 November 1993, Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, University of Oxford, sample 581m75, dates the last firing of Vulcan 300 to 500 years prior, i.e. 1493-1693.