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Description

Attributed to GIACOMO and GIONANNI ZOFFOLI (Rome, 18th century). From an original of "GIAMBOLOGNA", JEAN DE BOLOGNE (Douai, Flanders, 1529 - Florence, 1608). "Mercury", ca. 1800. Sculpture in bronze. Eyes in silver. Serpentine marble base. Measurements: 115 x 27 cm. The foundry workshop of the Zoffoli was one of the most famous and prolific in Rome during the eighteenth century. The work is modeled after the original sculpture by the Flemish-born artist Jean de Bologne, better known by the Italianized form of his name, "Giambologna", now in the Bargello Museum in Florence. The piece, originally made in 1567, presents the classical divinity Mercury (Roman version of the Greek Hermes), the messenger of the gods. The artist has sought to translate the lightness and speed of the character through a posture of great audacity. The god defies the laws of gravity by leaning only on the tips of his toes, which barely touch the base of the sculpture, which consists of a male head exhaling a breath of air. This is the personification of the south wind, a figure also deified in classical mythology and Mercury's ally in the propagation of news, good and bad. Despite this reduced base, the artist managed to create a very balanced piece, where the gestures of the arms and legs are perfectly balanced to allow the bronze to support itself without the need for added elements. Thus, the right arm rises towards the sky in an expressive gesture, while the left arm moves back and balances it, holding the herald's emblematic rod. With this work, full of movement, grace and delicacy, where the artist also admirably works the nude, some of the most outstanding contributions of the classical Italian Renaissance are summarized: the recovery of Antiquity, both in the themes and forms, the monumental free-standing sculpture or the nude, male and female. On the other hand, the search for movement, dynamism, even the instability of the figure, prelude some aspects of Mannerism and Baroque trends of the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

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Attributed to GIACOMO and GIONANNI ZOFFOLI (Rome, 18th century). From an original of "GIAMBOLOGNA", JEAN DE BOLOGNE (Douai, Flanders, 1529 - Florence, 1608). "Mercury", ca. 1800. Sculpture in bronze. Eyes in silver. Serpentine marble base. Measurements: 115 x 27 cm. The foundry workshop of the Zoffoli was one of the most famous and prolific in Rome during the eighteenth century. The work is modeled after the original sculpture by the Flemish-born artist Jean de Bologne, better known by the Italianized form of his name, "Giambologna", now in the Bargello Museum in Florence. The piece, originally made in 1567, presents the classical divinity Mercury (Roman version of the Greek Hermes), the messenger of the gods. The artist has sought to translate the lightness and speed of the character through a posture of great audacity. The god defies the laws of gravity by leaning only on the tips of his toes, which barely touch the base of the sculpture, which consists of a male head exhaling a breath of air. This is the personification of the south wind, a figure also deified in classical mythology and Mercury's ally in the propagation of news, good and bad. Despite this reduced base, the artist managed to create a very balanced piece, where the gestures of the arms and legs are perfectly balanced to allow the bronze to support itself without the need for added elements. Thus, the right arm rises towards the sky in an expressive gesture, while the left arm moves back and balances it, holding the herald's emblematic rod. With this work, full of movement, grace and delicacy, where the artist also admirably works the nude, some of the most outstanding contributions of the classical Italian Renaissance are summarized: the recovery of Antiquity, both in the themes and forms, the monumental free-standing sculpture or the nude, male and female. On the other hand, the search for movement, dynamism, even the instability of the figure, prelude some aspects of Mannerism and Baroque trends of the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

Estimate 6 000 - 6 500 EUR
Starting price 3 400 EUR

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