THE PROPERTY OF A LADY
A BRONZE FIGURE OF PRUDENCE

Details
A BRONZE FIGURE OF PRUDENCE
VENETIAN, LATE 16TH CENTURY

The right hand damaged; back of neck pierced; formerly holding a mirror, now lacking; on a later rectangular portoro marble base.
4in. (21cm) high
Literature
COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:
G. Mariacher, Bronzetti Veneti del Rinascimento, Vicenza, 1971, figs. 141-144
W. Timofiewitsch, Girolamo Campagna, Munich, 1972, figs. 31 & 96
L. Camins, Renaissance & Baroque Bronzes from the Abbott Guggenheim Collection, San Francisco, 1988, figs. 13 & 21

Lot Essay

The swaying pose, small head and generous drapery reflect the style of the sculptors Girolamo Campagna and Tiziano Aspetti, both active in Venice. Stylistic comparisons can be drawn with the marble statue of Peace (Timofiewitsch, op.cit., fig. 31), the bronze St. Agnes or Meekness (idem. fig. 96) and the bronze Venus (Camins, op.cit., fig. 13) by Campagna and workshop; and the bronze figure of Peace (Mariacher, op.cit., fig. 141), the bronze Peace (idem. fig. 142) and the bronze Venus (idem. fig. 144) by Aspetti. Another small bronze, often associated with Aspetti, of Judith, also shares this fluidity and torsion of style, though the drapery ripples with a far greater nervousness (Camins, op.cit., fig. 21). The iconography of the present figure is interesting, and she may have been part of a set of the four Cardinal Virtues, though the double-face can symbolise Deceit or Fraud.

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