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Lot Essay
The present bust and the following lot come from the Palazzo Altoviti in Rome. The Altoviti were an important Florentine banking family which reached its apogee under Bindo Altoviti (1491-1556). Altoviti was enormously wealthy and an important patron (see Bindo Altoviti, op. cit.). He commissioned his portrait from Raphael (National Gallery of Art, Washington) and later in bronze by Cellini (Isabella Stewart Gardiner Museum, Boston). He owned extensive land on the site of Hadrian's Villa, and created a collection of antiquities which were largely excavated from these sites.
Inventories from the mid 16th century show that a good proportion of these antiquities were kept at the palazzo that Bindo inherited on the banks of the Tiber River opposite the Castel Sant'Angelo in Rome. Altoviti renovated the palace and one of the most famous rooms was the Loggia overlooking the river which was frescoed by Vasari in the 1550s (ibid, pp. 187-206). This decorative scheme included five oval niches to house ancient sculpture: three along the long wall facing the river and one at either end. The fourth side of the room had arches leading onto the loggetta outside.
After Bindo Altoviti's death in 1556, the family fortunes went into decline and the antiquities were sold in the early 17th century. However, the Palazzo Altoviti in Rome remained in the possession of the family and photographs taken in the 1880s show the present bust and the following lot in situ in niches of Vasari's Loggia. Unfortunately, the palace was expropriated and demolished in 1888. The present bust and the following lot were part of the negotiated settlement with the family (ibid, p. 268) and have passed by descent to the present owner.
The present bust of Antoninus Pius is close to the work of the Florentine sculptor Baccio Bandinelli. The vigorously curling hair and beard are comparable to the hair on Bandinelli's bust of Cosimo I (Bargello, Florence; see Pope-Hennessy, 1970, op. cit., pl. 68) as are the slightly protruding eyes and the irises indicated by faintly incised lines. It is worth noting that Bandinelli and Bindo Altoviti knew each other, in an artistic context as well as in business (Florence and Boston, op. cit., p. 73).
Inventories from the mid 16th century show that a good proportion of these antiquities were kept at the palazzo that Bindo inherited on the banks of the Tiber River opposite the Castel Sant'Angelo in Rome. Altoviti renovated the palace and one of the most famous rooms was the Loggia overlooking the river which was frescoed by Vasari in the 1550s (ibid, pp. 187-206). This decorative scheme included five oval niches to house ancient sculpture: three along the long wall facing the river and one at either end. The fourth side of the room had arches leading onto the loggetta outside.
After Bindo Altoviti's death in 1556, the family fortunes went into decline and the antiquities were sold in the early 17th century. However, the Palazzo Altoviti in Rome remained in the possession of the family and photographs taken in the 1880s show the present bust and the following lot in situ in niches of Vasari's Loggia. Unfortunately, the palace was expropriated and demolished in 1888. The present bust and the following lot were part of the negotiated settlement with the family (ibid, p. 268) and have passed by descent to the present owner.
The present bust of Antoninus Pius is close to the work of the Florentine sculptor Baccio Bandinelli. The vigorously curling hair and beard are comparable to the hair on Bandinelli's bust of Cosimo I (Bargello, Florence; see Pope-Hennessy, 1970, op. cit., pl. 68) as are the slightly protruding eyes and the irises indicated by faintly incised lines. It is worth noting that Bandinelli and Bindo Altoviti knew each other, in an artistic context as well as in business (Florence and Boston, op. cit., p. 73).