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Lot Essay
This head of a boy first appeared at auction at Christie’s, London, in 1902 as part of the collections of Stefano Bardini of Florence. Bardini, a legendary collector and dealer, supplied the new generations of the merchant princes of London and New York – who imitated the collecting tastes of the princes of the Renaissance – and Bardini is directly responsible for many of the best Renaissance paintings, sculpture and architectural elements now in English and North American museums and private collections. The Christie’s 1902 catalogue attributed the present head to Mino and it was offered along with another fragmented head, almost certainly also by Mino, but of a bearded young man.
Despite being correctly identified as being by Mino in 1902, it was not until the present marble was sold at auction in 2015, with a convincing catalogue essay written by Francesco Caglioti, that the present bust properly entered into Mino’s oeuvre. Caglioti highlighted the incredibly rarity of this secular portrait of a child – it appears to be the only known portrait of a child by Mino -- and discussed it within the context with Mino’s most similar busts.
As Caglioti illustrates, the present bust is extremely similar to another work by Mino, the Little Putto Holding a Lit Torch in the Bargello, Florence (sculpture inventory no. 999). Both boys have the same tousled hair with prominent tufts on the foreheads and the very defined and deeply chiseled irises and pupils. But perhaps more than anything, both of these boys are animated by their arched eyebrows, alert eyes and slightly open mouths. It is precisely these original and, for mid-15th century sculpture, ground-breaking inventions, that make the present head even today, more than 550 years after it was carved, such a delightful and charming portrait of a young Florentine nobleman.
Despite being correctly identified as being by Mino in 1902, it was not until the present marble was sold at auction in 2015, with a convincing catalogue essay written by Francesco Caglioti, that the present bust properly entered into Mino’s oeuvre. Caglioti highlighted the incredibly rarity of this secular portrait of a child – it appears to be the only known portrait of a child by Mino -- and discussed it within the context with Mino’s most similar busts.
As Caglioti illustrates, the present bust is extremely similar to another work by Mino, the Little Putto Holding a Lit Torch in the Bargello, Florence (sculpture inventory no. 999). Both boys have the same tousled hair with prominent tufts on the foreheads and the very defined and deeply chiseled irises and pupils. But perhaps more than anything, both of these boys are animated by their arched eyebrows, alert eyes and slightly open mouths. It is precisely these original and, for mid-15th century sculpture, ground-breaking inventions, that make the present head even today, more than 550 years after it was carved, such a delightful and charming portrait of a young Florentine nobleman.