Workshop of Antonio Susini

red-brown patina beneath dark brown lacquer

Cyril Humphris, London

General surface abrasions. Some original casting flaws and repairs. Patina: light brown patina beneath dark brown lacquer. Small holes around base for attachment to a socle. Three standing figures and bull are cast separately and have been attached with lead. Some are slightly loose. Front male figure holding bull's horns: loss to two fingers on proper right hand. Old repairs to thigh on proper right leg and on left leg. Bull: loss to lower part of rope and edges around mouth. Small loss / crack on proper right hoof edge. Some old, well done repairs to legs. Standing male on left side: some old repair on his proper right ankle and implement in proper right hand is lacking. Seated female figure: original casting crack (repaired) at her neck. Loss to one finger on her proper right hand. Standing female on back side: loss to small finger on proper left hand (slightly loose on ground). Well modeled and finished.
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.

RELATED LITERATURE

Edinburgh, London and Vienna 1978, nos. 180 and 181; Haskell and Penny 1981, no.15, pp.165-167; Androsov 2008, no. 81

This fine bronze derives from the famous marble statue excavated in the Baths of Caracalla in 1545 during the reign of Paul III Farnese (1534-1549). It passed immediately into the possession of the Pope's family in Rome, and was partially restored under Michelangelo's supervision in 1550. The group was displayed in the second courtyard of the Farnese Palace where it served as a fountain. The subject of the statue remained unclear for some time, and it was only after a second restoration around 1580, when it assumed its present appearance, that the group was identified with a work described by Pliny as representing the fate of Dirce by Apollonius and Tauriscus of Rhodes. In 1788, the statue, along with the other Antique marbles in the Farnese Collection, was taken to Naples where it was installed first in the Villa Reale, or public gardens, at Chiaia and later in the Museo Nazionale, its home to this day.

The Farnese Bull was reproduced in bronze many times during the course of the seventeenth and later centuries and two of the finest examples are the 1613 signed and dated bronze by Antonio Susini in the Villa Borghese, Rome (Edinburgh, London, Vienna 1978, op.cit., nos.180) and one in the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg (see Androsov 2008, op. cit., no.81) also signed and dated by Susini.

The present bronze has many of the hallmarks of the aforementioned Susini casts including: the distinctive depiction of drapery shown with multiple, hard-edged, narrow folds interspersed with long, narrow depressions; the broad faces with heavily lidded eyes and punched pupils, open mouths bearing teeth, as well as tooled and defined finger- and toenails. Like the cast in the Borghese Gallery as well as the Hermitage, the base of this group is punched with undulating lines.

This group shows the death suffered by Dirce, daughter of the Sun-God, who married Lycus, King of Thebes, after he had divorced his first wife Antiope. Dirce, fearing that Lycus still loved her, had Antiope imprisoned and tortured, but the latter managed to escape and asked her sons to avenge her. They did this by tying Dirce to the horns of a wild bull who threw her remains into a spring which became her name.