Ancient Sculpture and Works of Art
Ancient Sculpture and Works of Art
Property from an English Private Collection
A ROMAN MARBLE TORSO OF A MAN, CIRCA 2ND CENTURY A.D.
Auction Closed
July 2, 04:42 PM GMT
Estimate
100,000 - 150,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
Property from an English Private Collection
A ROMAN MARBLE TORSO OF A MAN, CIRCA 2ND CENTURY A.D.
standing with the weight on his left leg and the left arm held back, the areolas finely delineated, drill holes from former restorations, including one below his left shoulder in front, another on his right thigh; former restorations removed.
Height 46 cm.
Barberini Collection, Rome, 17th-early 20th Century, restored as Herakles holding a club against his left shoulder and resting his right hand on a support covered with the lion skin
the painter Paul Guiramand (1926-2007), Paris, acquired in the 1950s/1960s
Oliver Forge and Brendan Lynch, Ltd., London
acquired by the present owner from the above in 2005
Published
Friedrich Matz and Friedrich v. Duhn, Antike Bildwerke in Rom, vol. 1, Leipzig, 1881, p. 25, no. 95 (https://archive.org/details/antikebildwerke00instgoog/page/n50)
Paul Arndt and Walther Amelung, eds., Photographische Einzelaufnahmen antiker Sculpturen, series 10, Munich, 1925, no. 2885, illus. (text: https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_7DErAAAAYAAJ/page/n512; plate: http://arachne.uni-koeln.de/item/marbilderbestand/3599103)
Salomon Reinach, Répertoire de la statuaire grecque et romaine, vol. 6, Paris, 1930, p. 54, no. 4 (after Einzelaufnahmen, op. cit.)(https://bibliotheque-numerique.inha.fr/viewer/15467/?offset=3#page=59&viewer=picture&o=download&n=0&q=)
Silvio Ferri, “Una statuetta romana di Ercole e un passo di Plinio,” Bollettino d’Arte, vol. 29, Serie III, 1936, p. 441, note 13 (http://www.bollettinodarte.beniculturali.it/opencms/multimedia/BollettinoArteIt/documents/1438786330358_03_-_Ferri_437.pdf)
Oliver Forge and Brendan Lynch, Ltd., London, Flint, Marble, Bronze: From the Mediterranean and Beyond, exh. cat., July 1st-8th, 2016, no. 31, illus.
Recorded
inventory of Cardinal Antonio Barberini, Palazzo Barberini ai Giubbonari, Rome, 1671, no. 816 (M. Aronberg Lavin, Seventeenth-Century Barberini Documents and Inventories of Art, 1975, p. 329: "Un Ercole in piccola eta alto p.mi 3 1/4 antico restaurato no. 1 -30-")
Giovanni Domenico Campiglia (1692-1775), drawing, black lead pencil on paper, circa 1710-1730, Eton College, Topham Drawings, inv. no. ECL-Bn.3:40-2013, “Campiglia Palazzo Barberini No. 227” written in ink on the back (http://collections.etoncollege.com/object-ecl-bn-3-40-2013)
The shape of the pubic hair and the rendering of the abdominal musculature suggest an original of the early Classical period. For an early Classical type of Apollo of similar size see E. Paribeni, Antike Plastik, vol. 17, 1978, pp. 101ff.