Attributed to Antonio Susini (1558 - 1624), After Giambologna, Florence, circa 1600 - 1620 | Attribué à Antonio Susini (1558 - 1624), d'après Giambologna, Florence, vers 1600 - 1620

Antonio Susini (1558-1624), an emblematic artist of Italian Mannerism, was one of the most important sculptors and bronze-casters in Florence who worked in Giambologna’s atelier (1529-1608). After training as a goldsmith, Susini was employed in casting and making moulds in Giambologna’s workshop. After Giambologna died in 1608, Susini opened his own workshop where he made bronzes after his master’s models. These were sought after for their high quality: known for the precision of their casting and the exquisite chasing of their surface finish.

The model of this exceptional small bronze was first referenced in 1601, when four silver statuettes from the Galeria del Uffizi were sent on loan to Antonio Susini, likely to produce bronze copies. The inventory of Benedetto Gondi dating to 1609 mentions un pastorino ... di mano e l’originale del Cavaliere Gian Bologna, which corresponds to the present model. An early recorded example was in the collection of King Charles I, which he inherited from his brother Pince Henry II in 1612, indicating an international distribution of the model from as early as 1611 (op. cit., Avery and Radcliffe). In addition, the Peasant is closely related to another small bronze model of the Bagpiper, which is also attributed to Giambologna.

Various casts of the Peasant attributed to Susini are in important collections, including in the Quentin collection (bought at Sotheby’s 16 April 2002, lot 51), and another example is in the Museo di Palazzo Venezia, in Rome (inv. no. PV 10809). The fine features of this cast, including the detailed face, elegant hands with delineated fingernails, the well-defined curling locks of hair under his hat, and delicate chasing of the surface are indicative of Susini’s hand. In addition, the Peasant’s feet and staff overhang the small oval base. This feature, as well as the shape of the bronze base, corresponds to casts that are firmly ascribed to Susini, including the example in the Quentin collection. The size of the present bronze is also consistent with the casts by Susini, which all measure circa 13cm. high. Furthermore, Susini’s figure of Morgante Blowing a Cornetto, the model also ascribed to Giambologna, in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London (inv. no. 65-1865), comprises a similar base with staff also tipping over the edge, which is a convincing parallel to the present bronze.

RELATED LITERATURE

A. Radcliffe and C. Avery, Giambologna 1529-1608 Sculptor to the Medici, Edinburgh and London, 1978, nos. 137-8; M. Leithe-Jasper and P. Wengraf, European Bronzes from the Quentin Collection, New York, 2004, no. 13; https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O107298/morgante-blowing-a-cornetto-statuette-giambologna/, 15/10/2023