Attributed to Vincenzo Foggini (active circa 1738-1755)
Menelaus with the Body of Patroclus
Lot Closed
April 29, 02:39 PM GMT
Estimate
20,000 - 30,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
Attributed to Vincenzo Foggini (active circa 1738-1755)
Italian, Florence, mid-18th century
After the Antique
Menelaus with the Body of Patroclus
bronze
51.5 cm., 20¼in.
E. Tarizzo and A. Popa, The Sculpture Museum, cat. Tomasso Brothers Fine Art, London, 2020, no. 4
The monumental Antique marble group known as Il Pasquino is an icon of Florence. Today displayed in the Loggia dei Lanzi, it was originally placed, by 1677, in a prominent position on the south side of the Ponte Vecchio. Discovered in Rome around 1570 on the estate of Antonio Velli, close to the Porta Portese, the group was purchased by Cosimo I de’ Medici and brought to Florence. It had a strong influence on Florentine sculptors during the 17th century, because by the last quarter of the century it had been restored by Lodovico Salvetti, based on models by Pietro Tacca, and became a landmark of the city.
The Pasquino’s fame meant that there was a demand for bronze reductions from the second half of the 17th century, either as Medicean diplomatic gifts, or as commissions from the Grand Tourists wishing to take home a piece of Florentine culture.
Only a handful of 17th and 18th century casts of this model are known. A bronze attributed to Pietro Tacca appeared as lot 114 in the Cyril Humphris Collection Part II at Sotheby’s, New York, on 11 January 1995. Of identical dimensions, the modelling and chasing of the base and helmet are quite different from the present cast. Another cast, formerly on loan to the Minneapolis Institute of Art and published by Charles Avery (op. cit., p. 152, no. 54), was sold at Christie’s, New York, as lot 170 on 11 June 2010. The latter cast, attributed to the workshop of Pietro and Ferdinando Tacca by Avery, has very similar decoration to the helmet on the present cast and a more analogous handling of the base. The most sophisticated Baroque bronze of the Pasquino model, known to the present author, was with Tomasso Brothers in 2008 (see Scultura, op. cit., p. 98). Published as Giovanni Battista Foggini by Avery, the extremely fine chasing of the base, beautiful patina and the addition of an elaborately decorated sword distinguish that particular bronze as the most refined cast associated with the models and piece-moulds by Giovanni Battista Foggini that were acquired by Marchese Ginori for his Doccia manufactory from Vincenzo Foggini, Giovanni Battista's son.
Vincenzo Foggini inherited Giovanni Battista’s workshop and continued to cast his father’s models after his death in 1725, before he sold the workshop contents to Ginori. The present cast is most closely related to the 2008 Tomasso bronze. It repeats the more intense expression of Menelaus, in contrast to the passive expression of the Humphris cast and adds even more chasing in the helmet, but lacks the addition of the sword.
The Pasquino group is known in three antique prototypes and is named after the version in Rome that was located next to the house of a schoolteacher called Pasquino. The Rome example remains in fragmentary condition, whilst the two further versions, both in Florence, are fully restored. The best known version is the one in the Loggia dei Lanzi, acquired by Cosimo I and restored first in the 17th century (see above) and in the early 19th century by Stefano Ricci, when the more elaborate helmet was added - an important feature that distinguishes pre-19th century casts that have a smaller helmet. The third Pasquino is today in the Cortile dell’Ajace of the Palazzo Pitti. The subject has been variously interpreted as Ajax carried by a soldier or Ajax holding the body of Patroclus (hence the eponymous courtyard), Alexander supported by a soldier and, most commonly, as Menelaus holding the body of Patroclus.
RELATED LITERATURE
F. Haskell and N. Penny, Taste and the Antique, The Lure of Classical Sculpture 1500-1900, New Haven and London, 1981, pp. 291-300, no. 72; C. Avery, Giambologna. An Exhibition of Sculpture by the Master and his Followers from the Collection of Michael Hall, exh. cat., Salander-O’Reilly Galleries, New York, 1998, pp. 152-3, no. 54; Scultura, exh. cat. Tomasso Brothers Fine Art, Williams Moretti Irving Gallery, New York, 2008, pp. 93-101, no. 25 (entry by C. Avery)
The Pasquino’s fame meant that there was a demand for bronze reductions from the second half of the 17th century, either as Medicean diplomatic gifts, or as commissions from the Grand Tourists wishing to take home a piece of Florentine culture.
Only a handful of 17th and 18th century casts of this model are known. A bronze attributed to Pietro Tacca appeared as lot 114 in the Cyril Humphris Collection Part II at Sotheby’s, New York, on 11 January 1995. Of identical dimensions, the modelling and chasing of the base and helmet are quite different from the present cast. Another cast, formerly on loan to the Minneapolis Institute of Art and published by Charles Avery (op. cit., p. 152, no. 54), was sold at Christie’s, New York, as lot 170 on 11 June 2010. The latter cast, attributed to the workshop of Pietro and Ferdinando Tacca by Avery, has very similar decoration to the helmet on the present cast and a more analogous handling of the base. The most sophisticated Baroque bronze of the Pasquino model, known to the present author, was with Tomasso Brothers in 2008 (see Scultura, op. cit., p. 98). Published as Giovanni Battista Foggini by Avery, the extremely fine chasing of the base, beautiful patina and the addition of an elaborately decorated sword distinguish that particular bronze as the most refined cast associated with the models and piece-moulds by Giovanni Battista Foggini that were acquired by Marchese Ginori for his Doccia manufactory from Vincenzo Foggini, Giovanni Battista's son.
Vincenzo Foggini inherited Giovanni Battista’s workshop and continued to cast his father’s models after his death in 1725, before he sold the workshop contents to Ginori. The present cast is most closely related to the 2008 Tomasso bronze. It repeats the more intense expression of Menelaus, in contrast to the passive expression of the Humphris cast and adds even more chasing in the helmet, but lacks the addition of the sword.
The Pasquino group is known in three antique prototypes and is named after the version in Rome that was located next to the house of a schoolteacher called Pasquino. The Rome example remains in fragmentary condition, whilst the two further versions, both in Florence, are fully restored. The best known version is the one in the Loggia dei Lanzi, acquired by Cosimo I and restored first in the 17th century (see above) and in the early 19th century by Stefano Ricci, when the more elaborate helmet was added - an important feature that distinguishes pre-19th century casts that have a smaller helmet. The third Pasquino is today in the Cortile dell’Ajace of the Palazzo Pitti. The subject has been variously interpreted as Ajax carried by a soldier or Ajax holding the body of Patroclus (hence the eponymous courtyard), Alexander supported by a soldier and, most commonly, as Menelaus holding the body of Patroclus.
RELATED LITERATURE
F. Haskell and N. Penny, Taste and the Antique, The Lure of Classical Sculpture 1500-1900, New Haven and London, 1981, pp. 291-300, no. 72; C. Avery, Giambologna. An Exhibition of Sculpture by the Master and his Followers from the Collection of Michael Hall, exh. cat., Salander-O’Reilly Galleries, New York, 1998, pp. 152-3, no. 54; Scultura, exh. cat. Tomasso Brothers Fine Art, Williams Moretti Irving Gallery, New York, 2008, pp. 93-101, no. 25 (entry by C. Avery)