French, late 18th / early 19th century, after Giambologna (1529–1608)

Sotheby's London, 9 July 2009, lot 147.

A group of Nessus and Deianira is first mentioned in 1577, in the archives of the Salviati family, among Giambologna’s earliest patrons. The composition was developed in three distinct versions, designated as Types A, B and C in the catalogue of the 1978 Giambologna exhibition (op. cit.).

Type A, generally considered the earliest, depicts Deianira seated on drapery covering the centaur’s back. Among the known bronzes of this type is a signed example at the Huntington Library, San Marino (inv. 17.13).

In Type B, to which the present bronze belongs, Deianira sits on the heel of her left foot in a more dramatic pose, while the centaur grasps her firmly with both hands. In the larger-scale examples of Type C, Deianira is once again seated on drapery, as in Type A, but supports herself with her right hand on the centaur’s back, whose torso is turned in the opposite direction.

Although conceived later, examples of Type B are rarer than those of Type A. Among the most notable examples of this type are the bronze in the National Gallery of Art, Washington (formerly in the Robert H. Smith Collection, inv. 2022.181.26), the example in the Collections of the Princes of Liechtenstein, Vienna (inv. SK 914), and the example recently sold together with other bronzes from the H. Rodes Sr. and Patricia Hart Collection, the casting of which is attributed to Antonio Susini (Christie’s New York, 5 February 2026, lot 24).

RELATED LITERATURE

C. Avery, A. Radcliffe, Giambologna (1529-1608) – Sculptor to the Medici, exh. cat., 1978, pp. 109-115.