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Lot Essay
Although the small bronze statuettes created by Francesco Fanelli (1577 – after 1657?) have long been recognised due to their presence in English collections, it is only recently that details of his earlier life and career in Italy have started to emerge. Born in Florence in 1577, he is next documented in the will of Giovanni Bandini, dated 15 April 1599, where he is recorded as the sculptor’s former assistant. He is known to have moved to Genoa by 1605 and had a seemingly flourishing career over a period of 25 years creating works in marble and bronze for a variety of patrons, most notably the church. By 1631-1632 he had moved to England and was in the employ of King Charles I, to whom he may have been appointed Court Sculptor. In 1639 Fanelli was granted safe passage by the king’s secretary Georg Rudolph Weckherlin, presumably due to the deteriorating political situation, but he may have still been in England as late as 1641 when he is mentioned in the will of Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel (for a succinct biography of Fanelli’s life see Wengraf, op. cit., pp. 325-329).
Between an inventory of the Royal Collection of Charles I compiled in 1640 by the Keeper of his collections – Abraham van der Doort – and a later inventory compiled by the antiquarian George Vertue (1684-1756) of the collection of the Earl (later Duke) of Newcastle at Welbeck Abbey, it has been possible to identify at least five of Fanelli’s compositions in bronze. Four of them are equestrian groups and the fifth is of a single horse. Among them is the present composition of a Turk on Horseback attacked by a Lion, examples of which exist in bronze in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (accession number A.4-1953) and the National Gallery of Art, Washington (accession number 2022.181.72).
The contorted position of the horse, as well as the energetic nature of both the rider and his dog, give this small group a heightened sense of drama and movement. It is particularly rare for having been executed in silver as opposed to the normal bronze, although documents confirm that from at least his time in Genoa, Fanelli was accustomed to working in both media (see ibid, p. 325).
Between an inventory of the Royal Collection of Charles I compiled in 1640 by the Keeper of his collections – Abraham van der Doort – and a later inventory compiled by the antiquarian George Vertue (1684-1756) of the collection of the Earl (later Duke) of Newcastle at Welbeck Abbey, it has been possible to identify at least five of Fanelli’s compositions in bronze. Four of them are equestrian groups and the fifth is of a single horse. Among them is the present composition of a Turk on Horseback attacked by a Lion, examples of which exist in bronze in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (accession number A.4-1953) and the National Gallery of Art, Washington (accession number 2022.181.72).
The contorted position of the horse, as well as the energetic nature of both the rider and his dog, give this small group a heightened sense of drama and movement. It is particularly rare for having been executed in silver as opposed to the normal bronze, although documents confirm that from at least his time in Genoa, Fanelli was accustomed to working in both media (see ibid, p. 325).