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Lot Essay
Stefano Maderno is best known for his celebrated statue of the martyred St. Cecilia, in the Church of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, which immediately established his reputation. Like many sculptors of his generation, Maderno started his career studying and restoring statues, an early training that most likely inspired him in his later production of small bronzes and terracotta sculptures derived from antique iconography, the most famous of which are a series of signed and dated terracottas depicting the Labors of Hercules.
Maderno’s contemporary biographer, Giovanno Baglione, wrote that the artist would make small copies of antique statues and then cast them in bronze. The signed terracotta's would act as models for this production of small bronzes; and the most important group of these models is that from the collection of Abate Filippo Farsetti now split between the Ca d’Oro in Venice and the Hermitage in St Petersburg. Of the Hercules subjects in terracotta, and subsequently in bronze, in the Farsetti collection, most are original compositions by Maderno which illustrate his interest in both antique subjects and Renaissance models.
The present bronze is a reduction of one of these terracottas, in the Ca’ d’Oro in Venice, signed Maderno and dated 1621. This model must have been well-known since reproductions in ivory and porcelain can be traced to Germany and Austria. Camins suggests that he was familiar with, and possibly took inspiration from, Giambologna’s Hercules and the Hydra which was created in 1580 for the Tribuna of the Uffizi. The ingenious composition paired with the gracefulness of the Hercules injects a strong impression of movement, illustrating Maderno’s technique and his creative interpretation of antique themes.
Maderno’s contemporary biographer, Giovanno Baglione, wrote that the artist would make small copies of antique statues and then cast them in bronze. The signed terracotta's would act as models for this production of small bronzes; and the most important group of these models is that from the collection of Abate Filippo Farsetti now split between the Ca d’Oro in Venice and the Hermitage in St Petersburg. Of the Hercules subjects in terracotta, and subsequently in bronze, in the Farsetti collection, most are original compositions by Maderno which illustrate his interest in both antique subjects and Renaissance models.
The present bronze is a reduction of one of these terracottas, in the Ca’ d’Oro in Venice, signed Maderno and dated 1621. This model must have been well-known since reproductions in ivory and porcelain can be traced to Germany and Austria. Camins suggests that he was familiar with, and possibly took inspiration from, Giambologna’s Hercules and the Hydra which was created in 1580 for the Tribuna of the Uffizi. The ingenious composition paired with the gracefulness of the Hercules injects a strong impression of movement, illustrating Maderno’s technique and his creative interpretation of antique themes.