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Lot Essay
The bronze tells the story from Greek mythology of how the satyr Marsyas, renowned for playing the double flute (or syrinx), and the god Apollo competed in a musical battle between flute and lyre. Whoever won could choose the penalty for the loser. The contest was judged by the Muses, the goddesses of creative inspiration in song, poetry and other arts, and the companions of Apollo. Not surprisingly, the god was deemed the winner and he chose to have Marsyas flayed alive. Here Marsyas has been tied to a tree, and Apollo, armed with a knife, has just made the first cut. Apollo's lyre lies abandoned on the ground, but Marsyas' syrinx is missing from this cast.
The sculptor Giovanni Battista Foggini was born in Florence in 1652 and was later sent to Rome by Grand Duke Cosimo III, where he studied under Ecole Ferrata. On his return, he became the leading Florentine sculptor, bringing with him the exuberant Baroque style that had evolved in Rome. A gifted portrait artist, Foggini was appointed Grand-Ducal Sculptor in 1687, which gave him access to the foundry in the Borgo Pinti used by his predecessors Giambologna and Pietro Tacca. His elaborate bronzes mark the transition from the intimate small Renaissance bronze to larger-scale decorative and theatrical Baroque works. The dramatic movement and flowing drapery evident here are typical of his style.
The four other known casts in bronze of the present composition are listed below. Two are in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, one of which was a gift from Cosimo III to the painter Hyacinthe Rigaud in 1716. An example now in Munich was given by Cosimo to his son-in-law, the Elector Johann Wilhelm von der Pfalz and his wife Anna Maria Luisa de’ Medici. In 1962 Klaus Lankheit first proposed a chronology for the (then) known casts (op. cit, p. 81) . He suggested that the Munich version pre-dates the Victoria & Albert Museum version that was given to Rigaud in 1716 on technical grounds. In the Munich version Marsyas is cast separately from the tree, but by the time Foggini cast the V & A Museum version he had refined the technical process to the extent that Marsyas could be cast integrally. The present bronze is also cast separately from the tree suggesting that it pre-dates the V & A/Rigaud version. The Munich example may have been given as a wedding gift by Cosimo for the ceremony that took place in 1691 and it has therefore been suggested that it dates from the 1690s.
There are variations in the execution and modelling of each cast. For example, in the Rigaud version in the V & A Museum, Apollo leans back in preparation to cut Marysas skin, but in the present version Apollo has already commenced this gruesome task and is deep in concentration as he holds part of the cut skin in his left hand. In his entry on the Marino version of this composition, Jeremy Warren proposes a further refinement of the possible sequence of the casts of Apollo and Marsyas based on a combination of the casting process and the immediacy of the central narrative – the flaying of Marsyas (op. cit., pp. 230-232). He argues that there is a progressive ‘sanitisation’ of the process, with knives becoming smaller and more distanced, and the flayed skin becoming less obvious. If one accepts this analysis then the present group would be among the first three of the five known casts, probably after the Munich example and roughly contemporary to the earlier of the two London casts.
Although Warren suggests that the Marino cast might be identifiable with an example known to have existed in the collection of Giuseppe Borri (ibid., p. 232), it is equally possible that the present bronze once belonged to the Florentine collector. Borri and his brother Ferdinando had amassed an extensive group of works by Foggini, including 17 bronzes and 26 terracottas (see ibid., p. 233, notes 16 and 17). These were offered for purchase, along with the rest of the extensive collection of paintings and sculpture, to the Florentine state in 1779, although it appears the transaction never took place.
The four other known versions are:
1. Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, Munich (inv.-No. R 3233). This version was given by Cosimo III to Elector Johann Wilhelm von der Pfalz (1658-1716), probably circa 1691 and first recorded in the Dusseldorf Gallery in 1719.
2. Victoria & Albert Museum (inv. A.2-1967), which was given by Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand-Duke of Tuscany to Hyacinthe Rigaud in 1716 in exchange for a self-portrait by the artist.
3. Victoria & Albert Museum (inv. A.9-1954), another version, this one of lower quality. The earliest provenance known is a Christie’s sale of 1912.
4. The Peter Marino Collection, USA (Warren, loc. cit.) Acquired by Andre Fabius in Paris in 1946. Purchased by Baron Rodolphe Hottinguer from Fabius in 1952 and subsequently sold from the Hottinguer collection at Christie’s, Paris, 2-3 December 2003, lot 80, where it was acquired for the collection of Peter Marino.
The sculptor Giovanni Battista Foggini was born in Florence in 1652 and was later sent to Rome by Grand Duke Cosimo III, where he studied under Ecole Ferrata. On his return, he became the leading Florentine sculptor, bringing with him the exuberant Baroque style that had evolved in Rome. A gifted portrait artist, Foggini was appointed Grand-Ducal Sculptor in 1687, which gave him access to the foundry in the Borgo Pinti used by his predecessors Giambologna and Pietro Tacca. His elaborate bronzes mark the transition from the intimate small Renaissance bronze to larger-scale decorative and theatrical Baroque works. The dramatic movement and flowing drapery evident here are typical of his style.
The four other known casts in bronze of the present composition are listed below. Two are in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, one of which was a gift from Cosimo III to the painter Hyacinthe Rigaud in 1716. An example now in Munich was given by Cosimo to his son-in-law, the Elector Johann Wilhelm von der Pfalz and his wife Anna Maria Luisa de’ Medici. In 1962 Klaus Lankheit first proposed a chronology for the (then) known casts (op. cit, p. 81) . He suggested that the Munich version pre-dates the Victoria & Albert Museum version that was given to Rigaud in 1716 on technical grounds. In the Munich version Marsyas is cast separately from the tree, but by the time Foggini cast the V & A Museum version he had refined the technical process to the extent that Marsyas could be cast integrally. The present bronze is also cast separately from the tree suggesting that it pre-dates the V & A/Rigaud version. The Munich example may have been given as a wedding gift by Cosimo for the ceremony that took place in 1691 and it has therefore been suggested that it dates from the 1690s.
There are variations in the execution and modelling of each cast. For example, in the Rigaud version in the V & A Museum, Apollo leans back in preparation to cut Marysas skin, but in the present version Apollo has already commenced this gruesome task and is deep in concentration as he holds part of the cut skin in his left hand. In his entry on the Marino version of this composition, Jeremy Warren proposes a further refinement of the possible sequence of the casts of Apollo and Marsyas based on a combination of the casting process and the immediacy of the central narrative – the flaying of Marsyas (op. cit., pp. 230-232). He argues that there is a progressive ‘sanitisation’ of the process, with knives becoming smaller and more distanced, and the flayed skin becoming less obvious. If one accepts this analysis then the present group would be among the first three of the five known casts, probably after the Munich example and roughly contemporary to the earlier of the two London casts.
Although Warren suggests that the Marino cast might be identifiable with an example known to have existed in the collection of Giuseppe Borri (ibid., p. 232), it is equally possible that the present bronze once belonged to the Florentine collector. Borri and his brother Ferdinando had amassed an extensive group of works by Foggini, including 17 bronzes and 26 terracottas (see ibid., p. 233, notes 16 and 17). These were offered for purchase, along with the rest of the extensive collection of paintings and sculpture, to the Florentine state in 1779, although it appears the transaction never took place.
The four other known versions are:
1. Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, Munich (inv.-No. R 3233). This version was given by Cosimo III to Elector Johann Wilhelm von der Pfalz (1658-1716), probably circa 1691 and first recorded in the Dusseldorf Gallery in 1719.
2. Victoria & Albert Museum (inv. A.2-1967), which was given by Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand-Duke of Tuscany to Hyacinthe Rigaud in 1716 in exchange for a self-portrait by the artist.
3. Victoria & Albert Museum (inv. A.9-1954), another version, this one of lower quality. The earliest provenance known is a Christie’s sale of 1912.
4. The Peter Marino Collection, USA (Warren, loc. cit.) Acquired by Andre Fabius in Paris in 1946. Purchased by Baron Rodolphe Hottinguer from Fabius in 1952 and subsequently sold from the Hottinguer collection at Christie’s, Paris, 2-3 December 2003, lot 80, where it was acquired for the collection of Peter Marino.
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