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FROM THE WORKSHOP OF CIPRIANI'S BRONZES AND PLASTERS FOR THE 1ST EARL OF MACCLESFIELD Dimitrios Zikos The bronze and plaster casts acquired by Thomas Parker, 1st Earl of Macclesfield, form one of the most remarkable collections of copies of famous sculptures assembled in the first half of the 18th by an English aristocrat. Most of these copies were commissioned in Florence during the Grand Tour of George Parker, the son of the 1st Earl. A separate group is composed by thirteen bronze statuettes for which Lord Macclesfield paid 300 in July 1723. The first sculptures acquired by George Parker for his father were two bronze casts after the Venus de' Medici and the Dancing Faun. Theses two celebrated antiques are still displayed in the Tribuna of the Uffizi, where George Parker and his tutor Edward Wright saw them when they visited Florence in the winter of 1721-1722. Wright's Some observations made in travelling through France, Italy, &c. in the years 1720, 1721, and 1722 (2 vols., London, 1730) was based on notes he took from this trip and largely contributed to the fame of this space which he described as 'a glorious octangular Room ..., which looks like a litle Temple inhabited by Goddesses'.1 The two life-size bronzes were commissioned from Pietro Cipriani, an assistant of the leading Italian bronze sculptor of the late Baroque , Massimiliano Soldani-Benzi. Soldani was a specialist in the field of bronze casts after the antique and one would have expected similar bronzes to be comissioned directly from him. However, when George Parker was in Florence with his tutor, Soldani was engaged in a very ambitious project , the monumental tomb for Fra Marcantonio Zondadari, Grand Master of the order of Saint John of Malta. It is therefore likely that he could not accept another important order. Even if Wright presents Cipriani as an independent master, he must have been chosen to cast these big bronze sculptures at the suggestion of Soldani. As we shall try to demonstrate, the great bronze sculptor was certainly involved in their casting. Cipriani had not previously produced life-size statuary. The little we know about his work suggests, on the contrary, that the Macclesfield commission remained exceptional throughout his career. In the summer of 1720 he had gilded bronze ornaments made for a pietre-dure casket.2 And as Timothy Connor has discovered, he produced plaster casts after the antique for Sir Robert Newdigate in 1739.3 Cipriani's bronzes for the 1st Earl of Macclesfield remain thus his most important works known today and it is obvious that they were crafted in close association with someone who ran a workshop and a foundry capable of producing similar works. Moreover, Cipriani was still working for Soldani in 1727-1728, four years after he had finished the Macclesfield bronzes.4 Wright also tells us that Cipriani had assisted his master in the casting of four bronze copies after the Venus de' Medici, the Dancing Faun, the Wrestlers and the Arrotino for the 1st Duke of Marlborough.5 But whether this is true, it is impossible to know. Wright's remark reveals, however, the fame that Soldani's bronze casts had attained in England. In 1714 Lord Strafford was so struck by them that he asked the Grand Duke to offer him similar copies after all four statues, made by the master who had worked for the Duke of Marlborough.6 The Marlborough bronzes provide an immediate precedent for the commission of the two life-size casts from Cipriani. Indeed, Wright says that Cipriani promised that they should at least equal Soldani's copies for the Duke. It is therefore that if an Englishman wished to obtain bronze casts after antiques in Florence, Soldani would have been the first sculptor to ask. There is another reason why Soldani must have been involved in the casting of the two copies after the Venus de' Medici and the Dancing Faun. As we learn from Wright's book, no new moulds could be taken from antiques as famous as these two. This is corroborated by the Richardsons who claim that no new moulds had been taken from the Venus de' Medici since the ones used to cast the Duke of Marlborough's copy.7 But as a matter of fact, even then Soldani seems to have had to resort to pre-existing moulds, taken by his rival Giovan Battista Foggini in order to produce plaster casts for the Elector Palatine in 1708. Whatever the truth may be in this particular matter, Soldani remains, besides Foggini, the only sculptor known to have owned moulds after the statues at the Tribuna. They are still recorded in his workshop after his death.8 Moreover, he was the most experienced in producing bronze copies of that size. He had already made similar copies for the Prince of Liechenstein between 1695 and 1702. Another, partially surviving series of similar bronze casts made for the Genovese aristocrat Stefano da Passano seems also to have been produced by Soldani.9 Since Wrigth implies that Cipriani used pre-existing moulds, he must have used those owned by his master. The first bronze casts of this type were made by Soldani for Johann Adam Andreas I, Prince of Liechtenstein. In 1694 the Prince had approached Soldani through one of the artist's friends, Marchese Alessandro Vitelli. The Prince wished to commission from Soldani a series of bronzes. His request can only be reconstructed through Soldani's reply. This letter, dated 11th December 1694, was the first of a long correspondance that documents the commission of several bronzes, mainly cast after some of the antique statues kept in the Grand Ducal collections. Two of the life-size bronze copies Soldani cast for the Prince of Liechtenstein are of the Venus de' Medici and the Dancing Faun. These are the first bronze pair after this pair of antique statues, the casts Pietro Cipriani made for the 1st Earl of Macclesfied between 1722 and 1724 are the last. Never again were the two famous antique marbles copied in bronze. The idea of casting bronzes after these two statues was not Soldani's. It came, on the contrary, from the Prince of Liechtenstein. One of the reasons why the Prince had approached Soldani was because he had wanted to have bronze casts after the heads of Michelangelo's marbles in the New Sacristy of San Lorenzo. The sculptor objected that such casts could never be displayed properly on bases and offered to make for the Prince a life-size bronze copy of Michelangelo's Bacchus instead. Simultaneously, Alessandro Vitelli proposed the acquisition of marble statues carved by a Florentine sculptor, as we learn from the correspondence between Soldani and the Prince. This proposal was not accepted by Johann Adam Andreas I. In a famous letter he justified his preference for bronze statuary. Marble statues were more likely to break in transport. Moreover, bronze could be employed to make precise copies after the antique. It was a double praise: of bronze sculpture and of the preeminence of antique over modern (marble) statuary. He would rather have bronze casts after the antiques in the Uffizi. 'We have written' continues the Prince in his letter to Soldani 'to this gentleman [Alessandro Vitelli] in order to find out, how expensive it would be to have bronze copies cast by you of the Venus in the size of the original, and also of the Faunus and that Bacchus you have mentioned'. Although the Prince did not have a precise description of the antiques he wanted to have copied (the Bacchus being that of Michelangelo), Soldani understood immediately which works the Prince called simply Venus and Faun: the Venus de' Medici and the Dancing Faun. Already in the year Soldani wrote to the Prince these two antiques were in the Tribuna of the Uffizi. In 1677, the Venus de' Medici had been brought together with two other antiques from the Villa Medici in Rome. After this group of statues arrived in Florence they were restored and displayed in the Tribuna. They were thus consecrated as the most precious antique statues in the Medici collection and became the main attraction for the visitors of the Grand Ducal collection. The Prince obviously considered the Venus de' Medici and the Dancing Faun to be pendants. His view was shared enthusiastically by Soldani. In his reply to the Prince's proposal, the artist described the Dancing Faun as the most beautiful statue in the world. It was probably thanks to such praise that the Prince decided to have the bronze of the Dancing Faun cast first. Only after this was delivered to Vienna in 1699 did the Prince commission the casting of the bronze Venus de' Medici. Already at this early date the taking of new moulds from such renowned originals was subject to the approval of the Grand Duke, as is acknowledged in a letter from Soldani to the Prince. In his life-size bronzes Cipriani follows the example of his master in the type of the chasing. He has a also used a base that is characteristic of Soldani and put his signature and date on it like Soldani had done on the Marlborough casts. In the same letter Soldani addresses to the Prince he proposed bronze casts after antique busts in the Uffizi. The Prince liked the idea and commissioned a total of eight bronzes that were cast and delivered to Vienna in 1695. Another cast after a bust in the Uffizi, the Young Marcus Aurelius, must have been made after 1709, since it is not mentioned in the correspondence between the Prince and Soldani that ends that year. Plasters after all the busts that Soldani executed in bronze for Vienna were acquired by the 1Earl in Florence. They were cast, according to Wright, from pre-existing moulds. It is obvious that these moulds were owned by Soldani. Only the Geta and the Young Nero (of which plaster copies were acquired for England) are not known to have been copied by Soldani in bronze: the latter bust would have formed a suitable pendant to the bronze cast after the Young Marcus Aurelius whcih Soldani cast for the Prince of Liechtenstein. The Macclesfield collection of plaster casts includes further works that were copied by Soldani: Gianlorenzo Bernini's bust of his lover Costanza Bonarelli.10 The Earl of Macclesfield also acquired plaster casts after the heads of the &IVenus Medici ('the famous Venus') an unidentified 'Antique Bacchus' and the one by Michelangelo, a statue that was also copied in bronze by Soldani for the Prince of Liechtenstein. Soldani had also offered the Prince a cast of the Hermaphrodite. Lord Parker and Edward Wrigth seem to have required plaster casts after both this and Michelangelo's Bacchus. If these plasters were made using moulds belonging to Soldani, as we believe, Cipriani is the most likely canditate for their execution, although the list of plasters acquired in Florence does not specify by whom they were made. After Sir George Parker and Edward Wright had left Florence, the Florentine architect Alessandro Galilei was entrusted with supervising the work of Cipriani and paying him. In October 1724 Sir George wrote to Galilei informing him that his father, the Earl of Macclesfield, had agreed to buy two bronze busts Cipriani had offered him through the intermeditation of Galilei (see doc. below). He asked, however, whether Galilei could not try to acquire these busts at a cheaper price. These two are the casts after the Plautilla and after the Geta, of which probably Lord Parker had probably bought the plaster in Florence. The two antiques stood infront of the entrance to the west corridor in the Galleria degli Uffizi. As Wright- in whose book the first plan of the gallery is reproduced - informs us, this was the main entrance into the gallery. Their prominent display probably explains why these two busts were copied together. It seems that Cipriani had cast the bronze busts at his own initiative. To cast the Plautilla, he would have used a mould made after Lord Parker had obtained permission from the Grand Duke who, according to Wright, had urged them to take the mould out of the country11. In copying antique busts in bronze, Cipriani followed his master's example. Indeed Cipriani's bronze casts after Roman busts in the Uffizi are the only Florentine Late Baroque bronze busts besides those made by Soldani for the Prince of Liechtenstein Doc. George Parker to Alessandro Galilei; London 18 October 1724 (Florence, Archivio di Stato, Archivio Galilei, V, inserto 1, fol. 138) Sr J have receiv'd the letter you did me the favour to send me, & am glad to hear that Cypriani has finish'd the statues, J bespoke of him, &that they are so well done. My Lord Chancellor is willing to have the two busts you mention, but you will be so good to try if you cannot have them cheaper, than the price, you send in your Letter: however if you cannot, My Lord will take them, & you will send them at the same time with the statues. J do not know whether La Fratolina has finish'd what J bespoke of her; if she has, J desire you will send that, & likewise Mr Metcalf's Picture ( which J think was left at Florence) with these things; but if she has not done it, J must beg the favour of you to hasten her. / 138v / When J was st Florence, J endeavour'd to get leave to take a mould of the Bust of Plautilla, & of that of Antonious, that are in ye Grand Duke's Gallery; for the former J got leave; but by a mistake of the person, to whom J applied in this matter, leave was not asked for the Latter: J should therefore be glad if you could any way get leave, that it might be now done, & if you can get Leave J desire you will employ Cypriani to do it, and when done that you will send it over. J desire you will tell Cypriani that, as a fine or Mulet for having so much exceeded his time, J expect that he send me one of the Medals in Bronzo of the Statue, Sigr Agostino is making at St Peter's in Rome: He gave me one in in Bronzo when at Florence, but having been here prevail'd upon to part with it, J must insist upon another. J have given proper orders for giving you Credit for as much mony as will compleat the payment of the statues & two busts. For as the statues were to cost in all were to cost in all eight Hundred Ducats, of seven Livres each, (Florentine mony,) of which J paid at the time of agreement two hundred more, there remains /139r to be sent, in order to compleat the Payment, four hundred ducats more: & if one reckons the Busts at the price mention'd (if J understand your right,) there are two hundred more; Now as J do not know how much exactly you have taken up, on the former credit, J could not settle any sum, without including that Credit you before had; J have therefore order'd taht they give you credit for eight hundred ducats, including that which you had before; & likewise that they furnish you with such mony more, as shall be requisite for packing up the things, & sending them to Leghorn. J beg pardon for the trouble J give youm & remain, Sr, Your most Oblig'd Humble Servant G. Parker London June ye 18th O.St. 1724 P.S. J desire you will let me know, what share SigrBastiano Bianchi has had in overseeing the statues, & whether he has taken any trouble about them. Notes 1 Vol. 2, p. 405 2 Richard H. Saunders, John Smibert, Colonial America's First Portrait Painter, New Haven and London, 1995, p.26. 3 Timothy P. Connor, 'Edward Wright and Lord Parker in Italy', in Apollo, 148, 1998, p. 30, note 32. 4 Klaus Lankheit, Florentinische Barockplastik, Munich 1962, p. 309, doc. 493. 5 Avery, Charles, 'The Duke of Marlborough as a Collector and Patron of Sculpture', in: The evolution of English Collecting: Receptions of Italian Art in the Tudor and Stuart Periods, New Haven and London, 2003, pp. 427-464. 6 The writer plans a study of this aborted commission. 7 Nicholas Penny, Taste and the antique, New Haven and London, 1981. 8 Klaus Langheit, Florentinische Barockplastik, Munich 1962, p. 284, doc. 351. 9 Dimitrios Zikos, 'Antikenkopien in Bronze des Massimiliano Soldani Benzi', in: Von allen Seiten schön. Rückblicke auf Ausstellung und Kolloquium, vol.1 (Dokumentation zu Ausstellung and Kolloquium) ed. by Volker Krahn, Cologne, 1996, p. 133. This article discusses also the casts Soldani made for the Prince Liechtenstein. 10 Susanna Zanuso and Dimitrios Zikos, 'Tre busti in bronzo dal legato De Cristoforis al Castello Sforzesco', in: Rassegna di studi e di notizie, 23, 1999, pp. 319-351. 11 Wright (op. cit., p. 412) actually says that the Grand Duke had insisted 'that the mould should either be broken to pieces, or carried away by my lord'. This suggests that it should originally have served to make a plaster cast, since it is evident from Parker's letter to Galilei that the bronze busts were offered by Cipriani only in 1724. The Thirteen Bronzes of 1723 Documents which are now housed in the National Archives include a list of 13 bronzes for which the 1st Earl of Macclesfield paid 300 on 15 July 1723. This list, with the exception of the Hermaphrodite (which is described as a Venus), corresponds exactly to the medium-sized bronzes now being offered for sale (lots 57-62 and 73-79). Unlike the large bronzes which are known to be by Cipriani (lots 64 and 81), or the plasters which were almost certainly executed under his direction, the origins of this third group are more difficult to ascertain. The colour of the metal and the method of manufacture indicate that the group was cast at the same foundry, although possibly finished by a number of different hands. However, the differing scales of the figures suggest that the moulds were not executed expressly for this commission. What is more likely is that Lord Parker engaged an agent during his time in Italy who was responsible for obtaining moulds of some of the most celebrated images Parker had seen. The unusual scale of the figures - neither full scale nor table top size - no doubt made this a difficult task, and the agent probably had to resort to a number of different sources. In the document of 1723 described above, the man to whom the first Earl made the payment was named John Smibert, a Scottish artist who is known to have worked as an agent in the purchasing of paintings and pietre dure in Italy. Smibert was in Rome at the same time as Lord Parker and his tutor Edward Wright, and he did not return to Florence again before his appearance in England in the summer of 1723. It seems likely, therefore, that Smibert organised the casting and delivery of the 13 bronzes from Rome, where he could have obtained moulds for both the Roman and Florentine prototypes. Regardless of their exact origin, this group of bronzes is a remarkable record of the English taste for Italian sculpture in the 18th century.

A BRONZE GROUP OF THE WRESTLERS

ITALIAN, AFTER THE ANTIQUE, CIRCA 1722

Details

A BRONZE GROUP OF THE WRESTLERS
ITALIAN, AFTER THE ANTIQUE, CIRCA 1722
On an integral rectangular plinth; dark brown patina with medium brown high points
14½ x 17 7/8 x 12¼ in. (36.8 x 45.4 x 31.1 cm.)

Provenance

One of the 13 bronzes purchased by Thomas, 1st Earl of Macclesfield, 15 July 1723 for a total of £300.
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:

F. Perrier, Segmenta nobilium signorum et statuarum que temporis denteminvidium evase, 1638, pls. 35-36.
G. Mansuelli, Galleria degli Uffizi - Le Sculture, Rome, 1961, I, no. 62.
F. Haskell and N. Penny, Taste and the Antique - The Lure of Classical Sculpture 1500-1900, New Haven and London, 1981, no. 94.

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 antique prototype for the present lot is first recorded in a letter of 8 April 1583 written by the sculptor Valerio Cioli to the secretary of the Grand Duke Francesco I of Tuscany just a few days after it was discovered near Porta S. Giovanni in Rome (Haskell and Penny, loc. cit.). On 25 June 1583 it was purchased, along with the Niobe Group, with which it was discovered, by Cardinal Ferdinando de' Medici and then housed in the Villa Medici, Rome. The Wrestlers were then moved to Florence in 1677 and in 1688 were in place in the Tribuna.

The aesthetic quality and complex nature of the group inspired numerous patrons to commission artists to reproduce it. The earliest known example is by Giovanni Battista Caccini who made a wax sometime before 1585. Louis XIV then commissioned Jean Cornu to copy the group - which he did twice - and Soldani made variously sized versions in bronze; most famously the full-scale version at Blenheim.

See also the introduction preceding this lot.

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