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Lot Essay
These four sculptures are the exact copy of the bronze statues adorning The Loggetta in Piazza San Marco, Venice.
The four bronze statues can be seen as an extraordinarily example of Sansovino's response to Venice and to the medium of bronze. The importance of the 'Loggetta Gods' for Venetian sculpture cannot be over-emphasized, and within Sansovino's oeuvre, they constitute one of his last, great artistic inventions.
Work on the Loggetta was certainly under way by February 1538 when a large payment was made for marble, columns, bricks and workmen. By 1540 the basic structure of the Loggetta was nearing completion. Little is known about the history of its sculptural complement, but the procurator's accounts show that Sansovino began working on the bronze figures by February 1541 and was actively engaged on them in the following year; by February 1546 the bronzes were installed and Sansovino received a settlement worth 600 ducats for them.
Each bay of the façade had a round-headed arch, the central one serving as entrance and the lateral ones as windows; the four bronze figures of Pallas, Apollo, Mercury and Peace stand in niches between the columns.
Small projects like the lost St. Catherine would have served as preparation for the demanding task of creating models for the Loggetta gods. The casting models for the Gods would have been made by Sansovino in his own workshop and then handed over to professional founders like Minio or Zoppo.
The four sculptures are among the most beautiful creations of sixteenth-century Italian sculpture, certainly the most striking expression of Sansovino's Venetian career.
The Loggetta bronzes remained a criterion for elegant and graceful figures in the eighteenth and nineteenth century, as exemplefied by these fine wooden exemples.
The four bronze statues can be seen as an extraordinarily example of Sansovino's response to Venice and to the medium of bronze. The importance of the 'Loggetta Gods' for Venetian sculpture cannot be over-emphasized, and within Sansovino's oeuvre, they constitute one of his last, great artistic inventions.
Work on the Loggetta was certainly under way by February 1538 when a large payment was made for marble, columns, bricks and workmen. By 1540 the basic structure of the Loggetta was nearing completion. Little is known about the history of its sculptural complement, but the procurator's accounts show that Sansovino began working on the bronze figures by February 1541 and was actively engaged on them in the following year; by February 1546 the bronzes were installed and Sansovino received a settlement worth 600 ducats for them.
Each bay of the façade had a round-headed arch, the central one serving as entrance and the lateral ones as windows; the four bronze figures of Pallas, Apollo, Mercury and Peace stand in niches between the columns.
Small projects like the lost St. Catherine would have served as preparation for the demanding task of creating models for the Loggetta gods. The casting models for the Gods would have been made by Sansovino in his own workshop and then handed over to professional founders like Minio or Zoppo.
The four sculptures are among the most beautiful creations of sixteenth-century Italian sculpture, certainly the most striking expression of Sansovino's Venetian career.
The Loggetta bronzes remained a criterion for elegant and graceful figures in the eighteenth and nineteenth century, as exemplefied by these fine wooden exemples.