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Lot Essay
Tetrode is now known as a sculptor of dramatic compositions and his écorché, together with his Hercules Pomarius and Striding Warrior, are his three most celebrated models. The exaggerated body, with long legs and abbreviated torso, and most notably, the visually dazzling musculature, are unlike any other sculptor’s modeling. The écorché, however, stands apart in the artist’s oeuvre as a wildly original sculpture; it is technically complex, scientifically-oriented and balletically elegant but, above all, it is the sculptor’s abstracted vision of the beauty of the human form.
Willem Danielsz.van Tetrode was a native of Delft but by 1548 he had moved to Florence where he is recorded in the workshop of Benvenuto Cellini. He would later move to Rome and Vasari tells us that he worked for Guglielmo della Porta, although no known work from this period survives. In circa 1558 he executed what was perhaps his first independent commission, an architectural cabinet adorned with numerous bronzes after antique subjects for Gianfrancesco Orsini, Count of Pitigliano. Known as the Pitigliano Cabinet, it was eventually presented as a gift to Cosimo I de’ Medici. The bronzes – which were separated from the cabinet but survive (apart from one) in the Bargello, Florence – serve as the touchstone for much of Tetrode’s early work.
The time Tetrode spent in the service of the Orsini was of enormous influence, and many of the sculptor’s bronzes are based on antique marbles in the Orsini collection. His experience in Rome and the restoration of antique statues under della Porta further strengthened his understanding of classical sculpture. When Tetrode returned to Delft in 1567, and later worked in Cologne, he was therefore of crucial importance in the transmission of contemporary Italian innovations in sculpture to the north (Willem van Tetrode, op. cit., p. 72).
The present bronze écorché is nearly identical to another model owned by the Hearn Family Trust, New York, and this example was exhibited at the ground-breaking Tetrode exhibition at the Rijksmuseum and the Frick Collection in 2003. And just a few months later the present version surfaced and was sold at auction in New York, when it was purchased for the Abbott-Guggenheim collection. So the present version was not included in the 2003 catalogue or exhibition. Other versions include a variant bronze example, with the addition of drapery used as a support (Palazzo Venezia, Rome, inv. no. PV 10822), a variant lead example (formerly Castiglione Collection, now Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, inv. no. KK. 10141) and another closely related figure who is clearly an archer originally holding a bow and arrow (Kunstmuseum, Copenhagen).
When the Hearn Family Trust bronze was included in the Hamburg exhibition, Sechs Sammler stellen aus, in 1961 it was attributed to Ludovico Cardi, known as Cigoli. However, when the same bronze was included in the London exhibition, Spectacular Bodies, Wengraf identified the author as Tetrode, an attribution which has since been universally accepted. Wengraf discusses Tetrode’s écorché model further in the Quentin Collection exhibition catalogue and relates it to Tetrode’s magnificent terracotta of Hercules (Op. cit., no. 24, p, 232). Wengraf notes the similar, and incredibly distinctive, musculature and the powerful, and yet balletic stances of these two Tetrode compositions.
The composition enjoyed widespread popularity in the 17th century and, as Scholten noted in 2003, was studied by multiple artists and appears in both drawings and paintings, perhaps the most literal representation being Voorhout’s A Young Scholar in his Study (reproduced in European Bronzes, op. cit., p. 236, fig. 3, and sold Sotheby’s, New York, 27 May 2004, lot 22). As Wengraf notes, the écorché depicted in the Voorhout painting is either of plaster or terracotta and provides evidence that Tetrode was working on this exact model in other mediums. And another painting by Voorhout, also prominently illustrating the same Tetrode model, A Lady and a Maid in an Atelier, is in the collections of the Rijksdienst Beeldende Kunst, The Hague (inv. no. NK 1973).
However, it is in the study of anatomy where Tetrode’s écorché made such an impact. As Scholten discussed in his 2003 exhibition, the study of the internal structure of the human body, specifically musculature, accelerated hugely in the 16th century and continued throughout the 17th century. Rubens, in particular was obviously fascinated with Tetrode’s écorché, and made multiple sketches of the model, one of the most dramatic being his Anatomical studies, of 1600-1605, now in the J. Paul Getty Museum. Another Rubens drawing, sold by Christie’s, New York, 14 October 2021, lot 9, also illustrates Rubens’ interest in Tetrode’s écorché along with his ability to infuse these studies with life. Exactly as Tetrode was able to accomplish in the far more difficult medium of bronze. And while the anatomical studies of Rubens were influenced by other sources, including such titans of the Renaissance as Leonardo and Michelangelo, as Jaffé and others have noted, it was this particular model by Tetrode, that seems to have captivated the attention and close study of Rubens.
Three decades ago the name of Tetrode was barely known. But now Tetrode is acknowledged as one of the most innovative and influential sculptors working at the end of the 16th century and his écorché remains one of his most iconic works – as mysterious and modern-appearing to a 21st century viewer as it would have been to the Renaissance prince.
Willem Danielsz.van Tetrode was a native of Delft but by 1548 he had moved to Florence where he is recorded in the workshop of Benvenuto Cellini. He would later move to Rome and Vasari tells us that he worked for Guglielmo della Porta, although no known work from this period survives. In circa 1558 he executed what was perhaps his first independent commission, an architectural cabinet adorned with numerous bronzes after antique subjects for Gianfrancesco Orsini, Count of Pitigliano. Known as the Pitigliano Cabinet, it was eventually presented as a gift to Cosimo I de’ Medici. The bronzes – which were separated from the cabinet but survive (apart from one) in the Bargello, Florence – serve as the touchstone for much of Tetrode’s early work.
The time Tetrode spent in the service of the Orsini was of enormous influence, and many of the sculptor’s bronzes are based on antique marbles in the Orsini collection. His experience in Rome and the restoration of antique statues under della Porta further strengthened his understanding of classical sculpture. When Tetrode returned to Delft in 1567, and later worked in Cologne, he was therefore of crucial importance in the transmission of contemporary Italian innovations in sculpture to the north (Willem van Tetrode, op. cit., p. 72).
The present bronze écorché is nearly identical to another model owned by the Hearn Family Trust, New York, and this example was exhibited at the ground-breaking Tetrode exhibition at the Rijksmuseum and the Frick Collection in 2003. And just a few months later the present version surfaced and was sold at auction in New York, when it was purchased for the Abbott-Guggenheim collection. So the present version was not included in the 2003 catalogue or exhibition. Other versions include a variant bronze example, with the addition of drapery used as a support (Palazzo Venezia, Rome, inv. no. PV 10822), a variant lead example (formerly Castiglione Collection, now Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, inv. no. KK. 10141) and another closely related figure who is clearly an archer originally holding a bow and arrow (Kunstmuseum, Copenhagen).
When the Hearn Family Trust bronze was included in the Hamburg exhibition, Sechs Sammler stellen aus, in 1961 it was attributed to Ludovico Cardi, known as Cigoli. However, when the same bronze was included in the London exhibition, Spectacular Bodies, Wengraf identified the author as Tetrode, an attribution which has since been universally accepted. Wengraf discusses Tetrode’s écorché model further in the Quentin Collection exhibition catalogue and relates it to Tetrode’s magnificent terracotta of Hercules (Op. cit., no. 24, p, 232). Wengraf notes the similar, and incredibly distinctive, musculature and the powerful, and yet balletic stances of these two Tetrode compositions.
The composition enjoyed widespread popularity in the 17th century and, as Scholten noted in 2003, was studied by multiple artists and appears in both drawings and paintings, perhaps the most literal representation being Voorhout’s A Young Scholar in his Study (reproduced in European Bronzes, op. cit., p. 236, fig. 3, and sold Sotheby’s, New York, 27 May 2004, lot 22). As Wengraf notes, the écorché depicted in the Voorhout painting is either of plaster or terracotta and provides evidence that Tetrode was working on this exact model in other mediums. And another painting by Voorhout, also prominently illustrating the same Tetrode model, A Lady and a Maid in an Atelier, is in the collections of the Rijksdienst Beeldende Kunst, The Hague (inv. no. NK 1973).
However, it is in the study of anatomy where Tetrode’s écorché made such an impact. As Scholten discussed in his 2003 exhibition, the study of the internal structure of the human body, specifically musculature, accelerated hugely in the 16th century and continued throughout the 17th century. Rubens, in particular was obviously fascinated with Tetrode’s écorché, and made multiple sketches of the model, one of the most dramatic being his Anatomical studies, of 1600-1605, now in the J. Paul Getty Museum. Another Rubens drawing, sold by Christie’s, New York, 14 October 2021, lot 9, also illustrates Rubens’ interest in Tetrode’s écorché along with his ability to infuse these studies with life. Exactly as Tetrode was able to accomplish in the far more difficult medium of bronze. And while the anatomical studies of Rubens were influenced by other sources, including such titans of the Renaissance as Leonardo and Michelangelo, as Jaffé and others have noted, it was this particular model by Tetrode, that seems to have captivated the attention and close study of Rubens.
Three decades ago the name of Tetrode was barely known. But now Tetrode is acknowledged as one of the most innovative and influential sculptors working at the end of the 16th century and his écorché remains one of his most iconic works – as mysterious and modern-appearing to a 21st century viewer as it would have been to the Renaissance prince.