Null GIOVANNI NISINI ; Rome, XIX century. 

"Furietti centaurs". 

Patinated bro…
Description

GIOVANNI NISINI ; Rome, XIX century. "Furietti centaurs". Patinated bronze. Signed on the base. Measurements: 57 x 32 x 15 cm; 48 x 32 x 15 x 15 cm. These pieces follow the stylistic models of the centaurs found in the Villa Adriana in Tivoli, made by Aristeas and Papias, during the Hadrianic period (117-138 A.D.), which now belong to the collection of the Capitoline Museum. The originals are made of marble and are known as "The Young Centaur" and "The Old Centaur". They were found in 1746, becoming a source of artistic inspiration. An example of this are these two bronze sculptures that, despite following the model already mentioned, have their own characteristics that make them unique sculptures. The figure of the centaur comes from Greek mythology; this race, with the torso and head of a human and the legs of a horse, was very prone to excesses with wine and to be carried away by low instincts, thus provoking famous battles against the Lapiths, which the centaurs usually lost, in a metaphor of the triumph of the civilized behavior of men, an episode represented for example in the friezes of the Parthenon. An important centaur in ancient iconography was Nessus, famous for abducting Deyanira, fiancée of Hercules.

GIOVANNI NISINI ; Rome, XIX century. "Furietti centaurs". Patinated bronze. Signed on the base. Measurements: 57 x 32 x 15 cm; 48 x 32 x 15 x 15 cm. These pieces follow the stylistic models of the centaurs found in the Villa Adriana in Tivoli, made by Aristeas and Papias, during the Hadrianic period (117-138 A.D.), which now belong to the collection of the Capitoline Museum. The originals are made of marble and are known as "The Young Centaur" and "The Old Centaur". They were found in 1746, becoming a source of artistic inspiration. An example of this are these two bronze sculptures that, despite following the model already mentioned, have their own characteristics that make them unique sculptures. The figure of the centaur comes from Greek mythology; this race, with the torso and head of a human and the legs of a horse, was very prone to excesses with wine and to be carried away by low instincts, thus provoking famous battles against the Lapiths, which the centaurs usually lost, in a metaphor of the triumph of the civilized behavior of men, an episode represented for example in the friezes of the Parthenon. An important centaur in ancient iconography was Nessus, famous for abducting Deyanira, fiancée of Hercules.

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French school of the 19th century The Borghese Centaur and the young Furietti Centaur Pair of gilded bronzes Dim. 31.5 x 23.5 cm and Dim. 35.5 x 26 cm on white marble bases Accident to the right arm of the Furietti Centaur Expert: cabinet Lacroix-Jeannest Related works: -Aristaeus and Papias of Aphrodisias, Furietti Centaurs, gray-black marble, H. 156 cm, Rome, Capitoline Museum -IInd century A.D., Rome, Borghese Centaur, marble, H.142 cm, Paris, Musée du Louvre, n°inv. MR 122. Related literature: -F. Haskell & N. Penny, Pour l'Amour de l'Antique. Greco-Roman Statuary and European Taste - 1500/1900, Hachette, Yale University press, 1981, pp.266-267 These small gilded bronzes are inspired by two illustrious antiquities: the young centaur from the famous pair of antique marbles discovered during excavations at the Villa Adriana in 1736 by Giuseppe Alessandro Furietti and since called the "Furietti Centaurs", and the "Centaur with Cupid" discovered on the Fonseca estate near the Lateran in the late 16th century and mentioned at the Villa Borghese in 1638. The great renown of these antique sculptures led to the publication of small art bronzes, of which the earliest known casts are those purchased by Nollekens from Cavaceppi in 1765. The finest examples of this model were cast by Righetti and Zoffoli, and were eagerly snapped up by Grand Tour collectors. The Borghese Centaur, which entered the Musée du Louvre collection in 1807, is frequently paired with the young Furietti centaur, as specialists believed the Borghese statue to be the original and the old Furietti centaur a copy. Here, the young Furietti centaur has been complemented by a small eros on its back, as it was thought that in their original state, the two Furietti centaurs