AFTER GIAMBOLOGNA, ITALIAN, LATE 17TH OR 18TH CENTURY

Details

A PAIR OF BRONZE MODELS OF A PACING HORSE AND BULL
AFTER GIAMBOLOGNA, ITALIAN, LATE 17TH OR 18TH CENTURY
Each on a rectangular ebonised wood plinth; dark brown patina with greenish brown high points
9¼ and 9 in. (23.5 and 22.8 cm.) high; 11¾ and 11½ in. (30 and 29.2 cm.) high, overall (2)

Literature

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:
H. R. Weihrauch, Europäische Bronzestatuetten: 15.-18. Jahrhundert, Brunswick, 1967, p. 469, pl. 557.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

The small-scale bronze model of the Pacing Horse was one of the most celebrated statuettes to have emanated from Giambologna's workshop during his lifetime. Based on the horse from the equestrian monument to Cosimo I in the Piazza della Signoria, Florence, the bronze was considered by Weihrauch (loc. cit.) to have been created as a pendant to the similarly sized bronze model of a Bull, as on the cabinet in the Galleria Colonna, Rome. The highly decorative nature of the pairing proved to be so popular that they continued to be produced long after Giambologna's death and even into the early 18th century. The dark patination and heavy casting of the present lot combined with the separate casting of the tail to the horse suggest that they probably date from the end of the 17th or beginning of the 18th centuries.

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