WORKSHOP OF NICOLÒ ROCCATAGLIATA (FL. 1593-1636), LATE 16TH/EARLY 17TH CENTURY

Details

A PAIR OF BRONZE FIGURES OF VENUS AND HERCULES
WORKSHOP OF NICOLÒ ROCCATAGLIATA (FL. 1593-1636), LATE 16TH/EARLY 17TH CENTURY
each depicted standing in contrapposto, she with left hand raised and he holding a club; each on integrally cast circular plinth and later circular ebonised wood socle
11 in. (27.9 cm.) and 10 ½ in. (26.7 cm.) high, the bronzes; 14 in. (35.6 cm.) and 13 5⁄8 in. (34.5 cm.) high, overall

Provenance

Christie's, London, 8 December 1981, lot 225,
Acquired from the above by the Blaquier-Arrieta Family.

Literature

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:
Jacob de Wilde, Signa antiqua e museo Jacobi de Wilde: veterum poetarum carminibus illustrata et per Mariam filiam aeri inscripta, Amsterdam, 1700, pl. XXXVI.
F. Spitzer and É. Molinier, La Collection Spitzer: Antiquité, Moyen Âge, Renaissance, Paris–London, 1892, IV, no. 37, p. 12.
L. Planiscig, Venezianische Bildhauer der Renaissance, Vienna, 1921, p. 620, fig. 697.
L. Planiscig, Die Bronzeplastiken Statuetten, Reliefs, Geräte und Plaketten, Vienna, 1924, p. 124, fig. 213.
C. Seymour, ‘An attribution to Riccio and other recent acquisitions of Italian Renaissance bronzes,’ Yale Art Gallery Bulletin, vol. 27, no. 1⁄2, April 1962, p. 16, fig. 11a, 11b and 12.
L. Pressouyre, ‘Quelques types de faux bronzes romains dans les collections publiques françaises,’ Mélanges d’archéologie et d’histoire, 1966, vol. 78, I, pp. 257–259.

Conditions of sale

Brought to you by

Charlotte Young Associate Director, Specialist

cyoung@christies.com +44 (0)20 7389 2730

Lot Essay

These bronze statuettes are variants of models cast in the manner of Nicolò Roccatagliata in early seventeenth-century Venice (Planiscig, 1921, loc. cit.). Attesting to its fame, the model of Hercules is included in Jacob de Wilde’s Signa antiqua of 1700, an illustrated catalogue of de Wilde’s important collection. Further versions of the Hercules can be found in important collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (inv. no. 27.36.5) and Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven (inv. no. 1958.73).

More from The Blaquier-Arrieta Collection, Part II

View All