AFTER PIETRO TACCA, 20TH CENTURY

Details

A PAIR OF PARCEL-GILT BRONZE FIGURES
AFTER PIETRO TACCA, 20TH CENTURY
Each depicting a manacled, seated slave, on a parcel-gilt, cylindrical bronze pedestal with faux porphyry decoration.
Mottled dark brown patina.
15¼ and 16 in. (38.7 and 40.6 cm.) high
16¼ and 16 1/8 in. (41.3 and 41 cm.) high, overall (2)

Lot Essay

These figures derive from the slaves at the foot of the monument dedicated to Ferdinand I de' Medici in the Piazza della Darsena in Livorno. These bronzes were amongst the most important productions of Tacca from moulds taken by him in 1607 from real-life galley-slaves and were probably originally designed for the equestrian statue of Ferdinand on the Piazza Santissima Annunziata in Florence.

Pietro Tacca (1577-1640) was one of the most gifted pupils of Giambologna (1529-1608) and upon the death of his master, succeeded him as the sculptor at the Court of the Medici Grand Dukes.

See also lot 199 in this sale.

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