AFTER GIAMBOLOGNA, 17TH CENTURY

Details

A BRONZE SELF-PORTRAIT BUST OF GIAMBOLOGNA
After Giambologna, 17th century
Depicted facing slightly to sinister; wearing a ruff and a mantle decorated with a cross on the left breast; on a later cylindrical ormolu-mounted grey marble pedestal.
Dark brown patina and lighter high points.
3½ in. (9 cm.) high
8 in. (20.3 cm.) high, overall

Literature

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:
J. Leeuwenberg, Maandblad voor Beeldende Kunsten, XXIV, 1948, p. 299.
Edinburgh, London and Vienna, Royal Scottish Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum and Kunsthistorisches Museum, Giambologna 1529-1698 Sculptor to the Medici, C. Avery and A. Radcliffe eds., 19 August - 10 September 1978, 5 October - 16 November 1978 and 2 December 1978 - 28 January 1979, nos. 143-145.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis

Lot Essay

Opinions on the identity of the present sitter have, over time, varied from a representation of a Knight of the Utrecht Chapter of the Teutonic order (Leeuwenberg, loc. cit.) to the sculptor Giambologna (Avery, loc. cit) - although recent opinion has favoured the latter attribution. Here the artist is depicted wearing the cross of the Knights of Christ, which the Pope awarded him in 1599. The present example of the bust appears to be only the fourth known example, with other versions belonging to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Douai.

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