A Marble Group of Atalanta and Hippomenes, early 17th Century, the Torsos Roman Imperial, circa 1st Century A.D.

composed of two unrelated ancient Roman torsos, including one of Aphrodite, each with extremities restored in the Baroque period.

Cardinal Antonio Barberini (1607-1671), Stanza di Parnaso, Palazzo Barberini alle quattro fontane, Rome, as of 1644
Prince Maffeo Sciarra (d. 1849), Palazzo Sciarra, Rome, by inheritance in 1810/1811
by descent to Princess Carolina Sciarra (d. 1913), Palazzo Sciarra, until at least 1867/1870
acquired by the present owner at auction in northern Europe

Marilyn Aronberg Lavin, Seventeenth-century Barberini documents and inventories of art, New York, 1975, p. 182, no. 678 (1644 inventory), p. 332, no. 911 (1671 inventory), p. 445, no. 457 (1692-1704 inventory)
Paolo Alessandro Maffei and Domenico de Rossi, Raccolta di statue antiche e moderne, Rome, 1704, tav. XCVI (engraving by Robert van Audenaerd)
Bernard de Montfaucon, L'antiquité expliquée et représentée en figures, suppl. V, Paris, 1724, pl. 4
Johann Joachim Winckelmann, Ville e palazzi di Roma (Mss), Rome, 1756, fol. 122v  (1st ed. by Joselita Raspi Serra, Rome, 2000, pp. 209 and 422)
John Northall, Travels through Italy, London, 1766, p. 321
Charles Burney, Viaggio musicale in Italia, 1770, p. 250 of 1979 edition by Enrico Fubini
Itinéraire classique de l'Italie, 8th ed., Paris, 1828, p. 54
A.A.J. Liez, N.A. Dubois, and V. Verger, Histoire romaine de Tite-Live, vol. VI, Paris, 1835, p. 266
Thomas Gray, Criticisms on Architecture and Painting during a Tour in Italy, in The Works of Thomas Gray, vol. IV, 1836, p. 281
Comte de Clarac, Le musée de sculpture, vol. V, Paris, 1851, p. 41, pl. 804b, no. 2027a
Shearjashub Spooner, Anecdotes of Painters, Engravers, Sculptors and Architects, and Curiosities of Art, vol. III, New York, 1853, p. 65
Documenti inediti per servire alla storia dei Musei d'Italia pubblicati per cura del Ministero della Pubblica Istruzione, vol. IV, Florence and Rome, 1880, p. 27
Walter Immerwahr, De Atalanta, Berlin, 1885, p. 68
Friedrich Matz, Karl Friedrich von Duhn, Antike Bildwerke in Rom mit Ausschluss der grösseren Sammlungen, vol. I, Leipzig, 1881, p. 257, no. 949
Salomon Reinach, Répertoire de la statuaire grecque et romaine, Paris, vol. I, 1897, p. 478
Carlo Pietrangeli, Palazzo Sciarra, Rome, 1986, p. 367, no. 22, and p. 368, no. 40
Sotheby's, Amsterdam, Garden Sculpture & Architectural Ornaments: The Piet Jonker Collection, June 2nd, 2009, no. 217, illus.
Arachne, no. 350486
Census of Antique Works of Art and Architecture Known in the Renaissance, no. 10014632 (http://census.bbaw.de/easydb/censusID=10014632)

As described, torso of Hippomenes is missing its proper right buttock (now restored in marble) and proper left shoulder (now restored in marble), both torsos have been repolished, restored fingers of Hippomenes' left hand missing altogether.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Until now the appearance of the present group was known only through the Audenaerd engraving published by Maffei and Rossi in 1704, and an 18th century to-scale Italian marble copy; the latter once belonged to the Comte d'Orsay in Paris, was seized under the Revolution, and is now in the gardens of  the Palais de Saint-Cloud near Paris (see Revue archéologique, 3rd series, vol. 7, 1886,  p. 13, no. 4; J.-P. Samoyault, "Les remplois de sculpture et d'objets d'art dans la décoration et l'ameublement du palais de Saint-Cloud sous le Consulat et au début de l'Empire, in Bulletin de la Société de l'histoire de l'art français, 1971, p. 158, n. 44, fig. I; ).

Franz Matz and Friedrich v. Dühn, who were able to inspect the present statue first-hand at the Palazzo Sciarra in the 1870s, point out that the group is essentially the work of a Baroque sculptor reusing two ancient torsos. For another highly restored mythological group of similar scale composed of originally unrelated ancient fragments, also on a circular base, and equally influenced by Bernini's famous Apollo and Daphne, see the group of Apollo and Marsyas in the Königliches Museum, Dresden (J. Montagu, Roman Baroque Sculpture: The Industry of Art, New Haven and London, 1989, p. 162, fig. 223, and B. Cacciotti, La collezione di antichità del Cardinale Flavio Chigi, Rome 2004, p. 35, and fig. 70).

The caption to the 1704 Oudenaerd engraving translates: "Statue of the virgin Atalanta, daughter of Scheneus King of the Argives, who was defeated in the footrace by the young Hippomenes, and agreed to marry him as a reward for his victory" (Ovid, Metamorphoses, Book XX).