BC/AD Sculpture Ancient to Modern
BC/AD Sculpture Ancient to Modern
A ROMAN MARBLE TORSO OF APOLLO, CIRCA 2ND CENTURY A.D., REWORKED AND RESTORED IN THE LATE 16TH/17TH CENTURY A.D.
Lot Closed
July 9, 01:34 PM GMT
Estimate
50,000 - 70,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
A ROMAN MARBLE TORSO OF APOLLO, CIRCA 2ND CENTURY A.D., REWORKED AND RESTORED IN THE LATE 16TH/17TH CENTURY A.D.
standing with his weight on the right leg, his left arm raised, his right arm relaxed, a strap running from the right shoulder to under the left arm and tied in a knot over the right shoulder blade, his head once turned to the left; a hole in the strap knot for attachment of a once restored quiver, part of the restored penis still extant, all other restorations removed.
Height 87 cm.
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Cardinal Ippolito Aldobrandini (1596–1638), Villa Aldobrandini sul Monte Quirinale, recorded in the inventories of the Villa from 1626 (C. Benocci, Villa Aldobrandini a Roma, 1992, p. 235, no. 104: "Un Appollo nudo in atto di tirar l'arco, con il carcasso dietro, alto palmi otto et mezzo, segnato n. 4"), and from 1709 (Documenti inediti per servire alla storia dei musei d'Italia, vol. 3, 1880, p. 148: "Una statua di marmo di un Apollo nudo in atto di tirare l'arco, con il carcasso dietro, alta palmi otto incirca"). The number 4 mentioned in the 1626-inventory refers to a number incised on the formerly restored plinth.
Daniel Katz, Connaught Gallery, 1971
Tennants Auctioneers, Leyburn, March 21st, no. 213, illus. (As “circa 17th Century”, without provenance)
DOCUMENTED
drawing by Giovanni Campiglia, ca. 1720, from the Topham Collection at Eton College: http://collections.etoncollege.com/object-ecl-bn-1-97-2013
As a fully restored statue, the present torso was displayed in the sumptuous gardens of the Villa Aldobrandini, which can be seen on a 17th-century painting in the Museo di Roma: http://www.museodiroma.it/it/opera/veduta-di-villa-aldobrandini-monte-magnanapoli (detail: https://images.app.goo.gl/H2Zeh34NGnoWHTZPA). The Aldobrandini collection of antiquities has only recently begun to be studied, see J. Deterling, Rivista dell'Istituto nazionale d'archeologia e storia dell'arte, vol. 73, 2018, pp. 119ff.; J. Deterling, Rivista dell'Istituto nazionale d'archeologia e storia dell'arte, vol. 75, 2020, pp. 163ff.