AFTER GIAMBOLOGNA (1529-1608), 18TH OR 19TH CENTURY

Details

A BRONZE FIGURE OF MARS
AFTER GIAMBOLOGNA (1529-1608), 18TH OR 19TH CENTURY
depicted with his left arm extended forward and a sword butt in his right hand; on a later oval ebonised wood plinth, missing sword
15 ¾ in. (40 cm.) high, the bronze, 17 ½ in. (44.5 cm.), overall

Provenance

Alain Moatti, Paris,
Acquired from the above by the Blaquier-Arrieta Family.

Literature

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:
F. Spitzer and É. Molinier, La Collection Spitzer: Antiquité, Moyen Âge, Renaissance, Paris–London, 1892, IV, pp. 3 and 116.
A. Radcliffe, Giambologna, 1529–1608: Sculptor to the Medici, London, 1978, pp. 93-100.
C. Avery, Giambologna - The Complete Sculpture, Oxford, 1987, p. 28, 136-137 and 261, pl. II, no. 69, fig. 137.
M. Leithe-Jasper, European Bronzes from the Quentin Collection, exh. cat., New York, 28 September 2004-2 January 2005, pp. 120-133, 311-312, 323, no. 10.
B. Paolozzi Strozzi and D. Zikos, Giambologna: gli dei, gli eroi. Genesi e fortuna di uno stile europeo nella scultura, exh. cat., Florence, 2006, pp. 209-213.
W. Seipel, ed., Giambologna, Triumph des Körpers, Kunsthistorisches Museum, exh. cat., Vienna, 27 June - 17 September 2006, no. 11 and 12, pp. 106-107, pp. 218-226.

Conditions of sale

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Lot Essay

This figure of Mars, or sometimes referred to as Gladiator, was one of Giambologna's (1529-1608) most popular models. With his right arm originally intended to hold a long sword blade, Mars is here depicted powerfully astride. Giambologna’s small-scale bronzes appeared in numerous courts across Europe, meaning that his artistic influence was widespread and long-lasting. Among the earliest of these bronzes is the figure of Mars. This is one of the artist’s so-called ‘open compositions’ (Avery, 1987, loc. cit.), where the pagan god is active, with outstretched limbs.

The prototype is believed to date from the early 1570s. One of the earliest reproductions of the model after Giambologna is the Mars in the Bargello Museum, Florence, (inv. no. 371) which has been attributed to Pietro Da Barga (active 1574-1588) (Radcliffe, 1978, p. 93 op. cit.). The present bronze is a later cast of Giambologna's celebrated model.

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