Giorgio de Chirico

Estate of the artist
Jeffrey H. Loria & Co., Inc., New York
Acquired from the above by A. Alfred Taubman on December 10, 1990

Claudio Bruni Sakraischik, ed., Catalogo generale, Giorgio de Chirico, 1930-1950, volume VIII, Milan, 1987, no. 719, illustration of another cast n.p. 

Rich brown patina. Bronze is sound. It has been recently cleaned and waxed. Small spots of patina loss are notably visible on the spear towards the hand, on the male figure's right thigh and across the hips of the female figure. There are some scattered small surface scratches and evidence of some pitting and plugs from the casting process. This work is in good condition.
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The mythological figures of Ettore and Andromaca taken from Homer’s Iliad are recurrent subjects in de Chirico’s oeuvre. Depicted as they are, this sculptural rendering serves as an amalgam of several of the artist’s favored themes, including mannequins, classical heroes and metaphysical meanings. Here, two mannequins are superimposed, creating a harmonious and quasi-symmetrical fusion of forms placed in an isolated classical setting.

Such figures juxtapose the robotic and the mechanic with the transience of the human, lending an almost uncanny feel to the bronze. De Chirico’s use of mannequins was “originally inspired by a play written by de Chirico’s brother in which the protagonist is a ‘man without voice, without eyes or face.' De Chirico himself confirmed this when he wrote: ‘the idea of these large heads shaped like an egg, which one also sees in my standing mannequins of the metaphysical type, came to me from seeing the maquettes designed by my brother who used the pseudonym Alberto Savinio” (Elizabeth Cowling & Jennifer Mundy, On Classical Ground (exhibition catalogue), Tate Gallery, London, 1990, pp. 81-82). The figure of the mannequin, popularized by de Chirico and other metaphysical painters, was a motif which sought a return to the grandeur of classical Italian art, often imbued with a sense of timeless mystery. In this work, the artist reveals Hector poignantly bidding farewell to his beloved Andromache as he leaves to fight in the Trojan War, only to be killed by Achilles. De Chirico thereby contrasts the coldness and immobile permanence of the bronze with the inevitable and tragic fate of the lovers, captured enigmatically and forever in what will always be their final moment together.