ATTRIBUTED TO NICOLÒ ROCCATAGLIATA (CIRCA 1560 - CIRCA 1636), CIRCA 1600

Details

A BRONZE ALLEGORICAL GROUP OF TWO PUTTI
ATTRIBUTED TO NICOLÒ ROCCATAGLIATA (CIRCA 1560 - CIRCA 1636), CIRCA 1600
Depicted walking together; one holding a finger to his lips and holding a piece of fruit; the other holding flowers; on an integrally cast rectangular plinth and a gilt-bronze base with a hippocamp at each angle; on a later wood plinth inscribed in red on the side with a collection number '258'; dark brown patina with warm chocolate brown high points and traces of gilding
4¾ in. (12 cm.) high; 7½ in. (19 cm.) high, overall (2)

Provenance

Possibly the Königliche Museen in Berlin (where the bronze appears in a photograph of circa 1892).
Purchased by Alfred Beit (1853-1906) by 1904.
Thence by descent to Lady (Clementine) Beit (1915-2005) by whom donated to the Alfred Beit Foundation in 2005.

Literature

W. Bode, The Art Collection of Mr. Alfred Beit at His Residence 26 Park Lane London, Berlin, 1904, as 'Nicolo Roccatagliata'.
W. Bode, Catalogue of the Collection of Pictures and Bronzes in the Possession of Mr. Otto Beit, London, 1913, p. 113, no. 257, as 'Francesco [sic] Roccatagliata'.
V. Krahn, Bronzetti Veneziani - Die venezianischen Kleinbronzen der Renaissance aus dem Bode-Museum Berlin, Berlin, 2003, p. 6, fig. 6.
COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:
V. Krahn, Bronzetti Veneziani - Die venezianischen Kleinbronzen der Renaissance aus dem Bode-Museum Berlin, Berlin, 2003, pp. 218-221, nos. 66-67.

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 present bronze group of two putti is closely related to two bronze groups in the Bode Museum, Berlin, attributed to the Venetian sculptor Nicolò Roccatagliata (Krahn, op. cit., nos. 66 and 67). Krahn notes the body proportions and facial types which are typical of Roccatagliata's work, who seems to have made something of a speciality of executing small bronzes of putti. Interestingly, it appears that the present bronze group may also have been in the Berlin collection, as it appears in a photograph of Berlin bronzes in the museum circa 1892 which Krahn illustrates in his catalogue of Venetian bronzes (ibid, p. 6). It may be that the bronze was only being considered for purchase by the museum at the time, and was subsequently bought by Alfred Beit for his own collection. Alternatively, one can well imagine that in the feverish days of finding bronzes both for the museum in Berlin and for wealthy private clients, Bode may have made some sort of an exchange between the museum and Beit which suited them both.

More from Important European Furniture, Sculpture and Carpets Including the Beit Collection of Early European Bronzes

View All