A BRONZE SELF-PORTRAIT OF GIAMBOLOGNA

AFTER GIAMBOLOGNA, 17TH CENTURY

Details

A BRONZE SELF-PORTRAIT OF GIAMBOLOGNA
AFTER GIAMBOLOGNA, 17TH CENTURY
Depicted wearing a ruff, chemise and in a coat with the emblem of the Knights of Christ, on a later ormolu-mounted bleu-turquin marble pedestal
3½ in. (8.9 cm.) high, 8 in. (20.3 cm.) high with pedestal

Provenance

Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 11 December 2003, lot 48.

Exhibited

C. Avery and M. Hall, Giambologna: An Exhibition of Sculpture by the Master and his Followers from the Collection of Michael Hall, Esq., Salander O'Reilly Galleries, New York, 1998, no. 61A
Giambologna and his Followers: Sculpture from the Collections of Michael Hall, Miami-Dade College Museum of Art, Freedom Tower, 9 October 2009-20 February 2010

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Lot Essay

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:
J. Leeuwenberg, Maandblad voor Beeldende Kunsten, XXIV, 1948, p. 299.
C. Avery and A. Radcliffe, eds., Giambologna: Sculptor to the Medici, exh. cat., London, 1978, nos. 143-145.

Opinions on the identity of the present sitter have, over time, varied from a representation of a Knight of the Utrecht Chapter of the Teutonic order (Leeuwenberg, loc. cit.) to the sculptor Giambologna (Avery, loc. cit.) - although recent opinion has favoured the latter attribution. Here the artist is depicted wearing the cross of the Knights of Christ, which the Pope awarded him in 1599. The present example of the bust appears to be only the fourth known example, with other versions belonging to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Douai.

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