Lot Essay
This fluid composition is one of only two models known. The other is in the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, and was acquired from Ravensworth Castle. The present bronze displays all the characteristics which made Soldani one of the most sought-after sculptors of the late 17th and early 18th Century: the unusual, somewhat diagonal slant of the composition; the multi-facetted iconographical implications of the figures in the group, perhaps representing the death of profane love; the delicate casting and chasing, a legacy of Soldani's work as a goldsmith and medallist; and the traces of the translucent reddish gold patina.
The example in Baltimore was acquired with a bronze group of the Pietà (Lankheit, op.cit., pl. 130). These larger groups are relatively unusual for Soldani, and may have been special commissions from erudite patrons. Although the Pietà and the Venus and Adonis in Baltimore are of similar form, and might be thought to be pendants, the bases are very differently worked. A more likely pendant to the group of Venus and Adonis would be a group of Tancred and Clorinda, now lost, which Soldani describes in a letter to the Prince of Liechtenstein in 1702 (Lankheit, op.cit., p. 334, doc. 671).
Massimiliano Soldani-Benzi (1656-1740) was sent from his native Florence by Grand Duke Cosimo III to study with Ciro Ferri and Ercole Ferrata in Rome, where he was greatly influenced by the Antique marbles which formed the basis of so many of his later small bronzes. Whilst in Rome, he executed portrait medals of the exiled Queen Christina of Sweden, Pope Innocent XI and other influential patrons. On his return to Florence, the Grand Duke sent him to Paris for ten months, to study with the Royal Medallist, Joseph Roettiers. During this sojourn, he was given the honour of making an unusually large portrait medal of King Louis XIV, which prompted Colbert to remark to his King: 'we do not have anyone in France who works like this Italian'. Despite an invitation from the King to stay in his service, Soldani returned to Florence, where he was patronised by the Grand Duke, the nobility, and especially by the Crown Prince Ferdinando, who would go in person to Soldani's workshop and 'chaffed him like a family friend' (Avery, op.cit, p.79).
By the early 1700s, Soldani's work was becoming much admired by the English Grand Tourists, and in 1710 he received a commission from John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, for a set of full-size bronze figures after the Antique, which were completed in 1711 and are still at Blenheim (Treasure Houses, loc.cit.).
Lankheit (op.cit. p. 282, nos. 340-1) publishes two letters from Charles Crowe, an agent in Livorno, to his client, Lord Strafford, dated September 1714 and January 1715, relating to some 'Brazen statues' commissioned from a sculptor in Florence. Crowe's assumption that they were ordered from Soldani indicates the very high regard in which the sculptor was held by his English patrons. The letter of January 1715 to Lord Strafford encloses a letter Crowe had received from Soldani, in which he states that the 'Statues for the service of My Lord Strafford have been ordered from Mr. Foggini', and continues in a rather plaintive vein about how honoured he would have been to execute a commission from 'such a distinguished and esteemed person'. Soldani further pointed out that Foggini had not yet started work, and that it would take a long time to complete them, no doubt in the hope that the commission, would, after all, go his way.
Wrotham Park was built for Admiral John Byng (1704-1757), 4th son of George Byng, 1st Viscount Torrington, between 1754-1756. However, it is unclear whether he ever lived in the house, as he was shot for neglect of duty in 1757, a sentence which was judged hard by his contemporaries, and denounced as 'a judicial murder'. He died unmarried, and was succeeded at Wrotham by his nephew, George Byng, M.P. (1735-1789), who married Anne Conolly of Castletown, Ireland, in 1761. Her mother, Lady Anne, was the eldest daughter of Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford (of the 2nd creation), and co-heiress of her brother, William, 2nd Earl. George Byng was succeeded by his son and namesake (1764-1847), who was M.P. for Middlesex for fifty-six years, and became known as the Father of the House of Commons. He enlarged Wrotham in 1811, and was a serious collector. He had inherited some fine paintings from his mother's family, and bought major paintings for substantial prices, including Pieter de Hooch's Figures Drinking in a Courtyard with an Arbor, and the Parmigianino Portrait of a Collector (now in the National Gallery, London).
The example in Baltimore was acquired with a bronze group of the Pietà (Lankheit, op.cit., pl. 130). These larger groups are relatively unusual for Soldani, and may have been special commissions from erudite patrons. Although the Pietà and the Venus and Adonis in Baltimore are of similar form, and might be thought to be pendants, the bases are very differently worked. A more likely pendant to the group of Venus and Adonis would be a group of Tancred and Clorinda, now lost, which Soldani describes in a letter to the Prince of Liechtenstein in 1702 (Lankheit, op.cit., p. 334, doc. 671).
Massimiliano Soldani-Benzi (1656-1740) was sent from his native Florence by Grand Duke Cosimo III to study with Ciro Ferri and Ercole Ferrata in Rome, where he was greatly influenced by the Antique marbles which formed the basis of so many of his later small bronzes. Whilst in Rome, he executed portrait medals of the exiled Queen Christina of Sweden, Pope Innocent XI and other influential patrons. On his return to Florence, the Grand Duke sent him to Paris for ten months, to study with the Royal Medallist, Joseph Roettiers. During this sojourn, he was given the honour of making an unusually large portrait medal of King Louis XIV, which prompted Colbert to remark to his King: 'we do not have anyone in France who works like this Italian'. Despite an invitation from the King to stay in his service, Soldani returned to Florence, where he was patronised by the Grand Duke, the nobility, and especially by the Crown Prince Ferdinando, who would go in person to Soldani's workshop and 'chaffed him like a family friend' (Avery, op.cit, p.79).
By the early 1700s, Soldani's work was becoming much admired by the English Grand Tourists, and in 1710 he received a commission from John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, for a set of full-size bronze figures after the Antique, which were completed in 1711 and are still at Blenheim (Treasure Houses, loc.cit.).
Lankheit (op.cit. p. 282, nos. 340-1) publishes two letters from Charles Crowe, an agent in Livorno, to his client, Lord Strafford, dated September 1714 and January 1715, relating to some 'Brazen statues' commissioned from a sculptor in Florence. Crowe's assumption that they were ordered from Soldani indicates the very high regard in which the sculptor was held by his English patrons. The letter of January 1715 to Lord Strafford encloses a letter Crowe had received from Soldani, in which he states that the 'Statues for the service of My Lord Strafford have been ordered from Mr. Foggini', and continues in a rather plaintive vein about how honoured he would have been to execute a commission from 'such a distinguished and esteemed person'. Soldani further pointed out that Foggini had not yet started work, and that it would take a long time to complete them, no doubt in the hope that the commission, would, after all, go his way.
Wrotham Park was built for Admiral John Byng (1704-1757), 4th son of George Byng, 1st Viscount Torrington, between 1754-1756. However, it is unclear whether he ever lived in the house, as he was shot for neglect of duty in 1757, a sentence which was judged hard by his contemporaries, and denounced as 'a judicial murder'. He died unmarried, and was succeeded at Wrotham by his nephew, George Byng, M.P. (1735-1789), who married Anne Conolly of Castletown, Ireland, in 1761. Her mother, Lady Anne, was the eldest daughter of Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford (of the 2nd creation), and co-heiress of her brother, William, 2nd Earl. George Byng was succeeded by his son and namesake (1764-1847), who was M.P. for Middlesex for fifty-six years, and became known as the Father of the House of Commons. He enlarged Wrotham in 1811, and was a serious collector. He had inherited some fine paintings from his mother's family, and bought major paintings for substantial prices, including Pieter de Hooch's Figures Drinking in a Courtyard with an Arbor, and the Parmigianino Portrait of a Collector (now in the National Gallery, London).