.jpg?w=1)
拍品专文
Born to a noble Tuscan family, Massimiliano Soldani Benzi (1656-1740) was probably the last of a long line of great bronze-workers in the Florentine tradition. He was sent by Grand Duke Cosimo III to the Medici Academy in Rome, and then to Paris. However, the French crown’s interest in the young Italian was quickly outstripped by the Grand Duke’s own support, who had the young artist summoned back to Florence within a year of his arriving in Paris.
Lankheit and Avery established that the present model was among a series of small bronzes after the antique and Renaissance masters Soldani devised to market to patrons across Europe, each approximately 12 inches high and of exquisite quality (ops. cit.). Apollo Musagetes is based upon an antique marble statue of the same name in the Uffizi, Florence. Apollo with his lyre and pedestal is one of the rarest models from the series. The present bronze, with its detailed finishing and hints of reddish-gold lacquer known to have been favored by Soldani, is one of the finest known casts, comparable to a version in the collection of the Duke of Devonshire at Chatsworth House (illustrated in Pratesi and Lankheit, locs. cit.) and a version 31 cm. high conserved in the Quentin collection (Wengraf, loc. cit.).
The present bronze was previously owned by Joseph Dawson, who was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross (United States), for his actions on Omaha Beach on the D-Day landings of the Allied troops in Normandy on 6 June 1944. Dawson famously led his men up a narrow ravine, now known as 'Dawson's draw', clearing German machine gun fire to first reach the top of the bluff overlooking the beach.
Lankheit and Avery established that the present model was among a series of small bronzes after the antique and Renaissance masters Soldani devised to market to patrons across Europe, each approximately 12 inches high and of exquisite quality (ops. cit.). Apollo Musagetes is based upon an antique marble statue of the same name in the Uffizi, Florence. Apollo with his lyre and pedestal is one of the rarest models from the series. The present bronze, with its detailed finishing and hints of reddish-gold lacquer known to have been favored by Soldani, is one of the finest known casts, comparable to a version in the collection of the Duke of Devonshire at Chatsworth House (illustrated in Pratesi and Lankheit, locs. cit.) and a version 31 cm. high conserved in the Quentin collection (Wengraf, loc. cit.).
The present bronze was previously owned by Joseph Dawson, who was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross (United States), for his actions on Omaha Beach on the D-Day landings of the Allied troops in Normandy on 6 June 1944. Dawson famously led his men up a narrow ravine, now known as 'Dawson's draw', clearing German machine gun fire to first reach the top of the bluff overlooking the beach.