VENETIAN, LATE 16TH OR 17TH CENTURY

From the 1590s onwards, Tiziano Aspetti conceived a series of bronzes that, in various combinations, depicted a male and a female god or saint each surmounting an andiron. The earliest combinations depicted the figures of Vulcan and Venus, but by changing their attributes and costume, the pair could also have been a combination of Mars, Neptune and Mercury with either Venus, Minerva or Vigilance (Planiscig, loc. cit.). What remained consistent with each of these figures, however, was the overall form, which was of an exaggerated pose often in contrapposto and, depending on the subject matter, either clothed or naked and carrying an attribute. This is very much the case with the present lot, in which the figures of Mars and Minerva are depicted in characteristic contrapposto and in full military garb. A very similarly modelled series of figures of Mars can be seen in the Museo Bottacin, Padua (Banzato and Pellegrini, loc. cit.).