Antonio Susini and Workshop, After a Model by Giambologna, Italian, Florence, 17th century

With Daniel Katz, Ltd., New York, 2002:

From whom acquired by the late collector.

K. Zock, European Sculpture, exhibition catalgue, Daniel Katz Ltd., London 2002, cat. no. 12.

Antonio Susini began his career as a goldsmith before he entered Giambologna's bottega. There he was tasked with casting and making molds for the master. Upon Giambologna's death in 1608, Susini opened his own workshop where he made bronzes after Giambologna's compositions. The present, beautifully cast sculpture of Minerva is a product of this relationship between the two sculptors.

This model is described in documentation from 1577-1578 as "... un' altra figurina staccata dispersa con uno squdo in mano et uno bastone" .¹ Unlike other compositions conceived in the workshops of Giambologna and Susini, very few versions of this model are known: one in the Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence and another that was only discovered in the late 20th century.²

The facial type seen here is characteristic of Giambologna's and Susini's oeuvre and is reminiscent of that seen in the model of an Angel Ascending, an example of which is in the National Gallery of Australian, Canberra (accession number: 84.1520). Avery also cites that the treatment of Minerva's drapery in the Bargello model, and therefore the present cast is representative of the objects being produced in these workshops.³

The present sculpture is very finely finished, a hallmark of Susini and his workshop - the chocolate-brown patina, the chiseled and elegantly drapery that seemingly clings to Minerva's body and the delicate details of her costume all reveal the hand of the master.

¹A. Radcliffe and C. Avery (eds.), Giambologna 1529-1608: Sculptor to the Medici, exh. cat. Arts Council of Great Britain, London and Edinburgh, 1978, p. 81, cat. no. 30.

²K. Zock, European Sculpture, Daniel Katz Ltd., Gli Ori 2002, cat. no. 12.

³C. Avery, Giambologna, Oxford, 1987, p. 260, cat. no. 58, pl. 302.