Lot 53
53
A GREY-PAINTED PLASTER BUST OF THE DYING ALEXANDER
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A GREY-PAINTED PLASTER BUST OF THE DYING ALEXANDER

ATTRIBUTED TO THE FLORENTINE GRAND DUCAL WORKSHOPS, AFTER THE ANTIQUE, CIRCA 1722

Details
A GREY-PAINTED PLASTER BUST OF THE DYING ALEXANDER
ATTRIBUTED TO THE FLORENTINE GRAND DUCAL WORKSHOPS, AFTER THE ANTIQUE, CIRCA 1722
Depicted with his head thrown back, the reverse truncated; above an integrally cast cartouche and circular socle; the reverse with paper label inscribed 'no. 34.'; surface dirt, minor damages
26½ in. (67.3 cm.) high, overall
Provenance
One of the 35 'casts in jess' acquired by Thomas, 1st Earl of Macclesfield, described in a letter written by Lord Parker in Florence in January 1722.
Thence by descent at Shirburn Castle.
Literature
T. P. Connor, 'The fruits of a Grand Tour - Edward Wright and Lord Parker in Italy, 1720-22', in Apollo, July 1998, pp. 23-30.

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:

G. Mansuelli, Galleria degli Uffizi - Le Sculture, Rome, 1961, I, no. 64
F. Haskell and N. Penny, Taste and the Antique - The Lure of Classical Sculpture 1500-1900, New Haven and London, 1981, no. 2.
Special notice
No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium, which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

The importance of the original antique head, now generally accepted as representing the Dying Alexander, is highlighted in Haskel and Penny (op. cit.) by the observation that Giambologna, the masterly court sculptor to the Medici, was asked to carve the shoulders for the bust in 1579. Since the remounting, the bust has permanently resided in the Uffizi.

Soldani is recorded as having made a bronze version for Queen Christina of Sweded in 1681, and the first recorded plaster cast appears in England in 1781 where it was exhibited in the Royal Academy, London. Thus the present lot's dating to circa 1722 must make it among, if not the, first version to have entered an English collection.

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