Lot Essay
The present bronze Fortuna is after a model by Giambologna. With her long silhouette and upstretched arm she recalls the celebrated Mercury, and suggestions that she was actually created as a pendant to the latter appear to be corroborated by an inventory of the collection of Benedetto Gondi of 1609, when two examples of the Fortuna and Mercury are described in successive entries.
The present bronze was listed in the inventory of the possessions of the 2nd Marquess of Rockingham at the time of his death in 1782. Although it was tentatively described as Venetian by Nicholas Penny, in his article on the sculpture collection at Wentworth (loc. cit.), the flawed cast and somewhat brassy alloy may well indicate a northern, possibly German, foundry.
The present bronze was listed in the inventory of the possessions of the 2nd Marquess of Rockingham at the time of his death in 1782. Although it was tentatively described as Venetian by Nicholas Penny, in his article on the sculpture collection at Wentworth (loc. cit.), the flawed cast and somewhat brassy alloy may well indicate a northern, possibly German, foundry.