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14 mars 2012

Tomasso Brothers make their debut at TEFAF Maastricht

 1

Giovanni Francesco Susini (active 1592-1646), Farnese Bull (The Punishment of Dirce). Bronze, 46 x 40 x 38 cm

Major pieces of European sculpture and works of art will be presented by Tomasso Brothers Fine Art at TEFAF Maastricht at the Maastricht Exhibition and Congress Centre (MECC) from 16 to 25 March 2012. This will be the first time that Tomasso Brothers Fine Art, the internationally-renowned dealers in European sculpture, has exhibited at TEFAF which celebrates its Silver Jubilee in 2012. Stand 165

One of the highlights of the stand will be a spectacular bronze figure of the Farnese Bull (The Punishment of Dirce) by Giovanni Francesco Susini, modelled after the largest single sculpture ever recovered from antiquity. Susini was a Florentine sculptor who trained in the workshop of Giambologna, one of the most important Mannerist sculptors in Italy, where his uncle Antonio Susini was the principal bronze-caster. Visiting Rome in 1624-26, he gained experience of classical antique statuary including, presumably, the clossal marble group of the Farnese BullM. The Farnese Bull, probably a Roman copy of a Greek original, was carved from a single block of white marble and is attributed to two artists from Rhodes, Apollonius of Tralles and his brother Tauriscus. Found in 1546 in the Baths of Caracalla in Rome and acquired soon after for the Farnese collection, it is now in the Museo Archeologico Nazionale in Naples. Zethus and Amphion, the twin builders of Thebes, are shown tying their stepmother Dirce to the horns of a wild bull to punish her for tormenting their mother, Antiope, a subject taken from Greek mythology. This bronze figure on show at TEFAF is priced in the region of €750,000.

2

Francesco Righetti (1749-1819) and Luigi Righetti (1780-?1852). Captive Dacians. Signed and dated 1811. Bronze, rich brown-green patina. Height: 32.4 cm 

Francesco Righetti lists the two bronze Dacians in his 1794 catalogue as “Deux Esclaves de Farnese” at the cost of 36 sequins romains. The present pair are dated 1811, and were executed when Righetti was at the height of his career, having just completed the monumental bronze statue of Napoleon as Mars which is currently in the courtyard of the Museo del Brera, Milan. The two bronzes are reductions after the famous marbles of the Farnese Slaves, which date to imperial Roman times and are reputed to have come from Trajan’s Forum. The signature ET. FIL. indicates that Francesco’s son Luigi also worked on these figures. Luigi had become Francesco’s chief assistant by 1805, the year that Francesco became head of the Vatican foundry.

3

Joseph Chinard (1756-1813). Portrait of a Man. Signed and dated 1806. White marble. Height: 67.3 cm 

A superb marble bust by Joseph Chinard (1756-1813) shows a man with his head slightly tilted to the right, his handsome face framed by rich and deep curls. Chinard’s attention to detail is obvious and it is this extraordinary meticulousness that has enabled the bust to be dated as the sitter bears the prestigious insignia of the Légion d’honneur and the Ordre de la Couronne de Fer. The Légion d’honneur was established by Napoleon in 1802 when he was First Consul and is still the highest decoration in France, while the Couronne de Fer was created in 1805 and did not survive the Empire. As the medal of the Légion has a crown surmounting the star, it can be identified as the second type issued from 1806; a third type was created in 1807. Chinard, one of the greatest portraitists of his age, was born in Lyons to a family of silk merchants, and trained under the painter Donat Nonotte at the Ecole Royale de Dessin in Lyons. He received numerous public commissions and put his art to the service of the French Revolution. Napoleon’s military campaigns offered him a new heroic iconography and a number of public commissions while producing portrait busts of members of the Imperial court.

4

Pietro Cipriani (c. 1679-1745). Geta and Plautilla. Bronze, warm brown patina, reddish gold lacquer. Height: each 47 cm without base; 62 cm with bases.

 4a

 Pietro Cipriani (c. 1679-1745). Geta, Bronze, warm brown patina, reddish gold lacquer; Height: 47 cm; 62 cm with base

 4b

 Pietro Cipriani (c. 1679-1745). Plautilla. Bronze, warm brown patina, reddish gold lacquer. Height: 47 cm; 62 cm with base

A pair of exceptionally fine busts by Pietro Cipriani (c.1679-1745) highlights the outstanding technical expertise of the Florentine masters of the late 17th and early 18th centuries. The busts have been at Shirburn Castle, following Lord Parker’s purchase, for some 280 years, and have retained all their original rich Florentine gold-red lacquer. Bronzes in this original, untouched condition are very rare and a pleasure for the discerning eye. The subjects are the Empress Plautilla, wife of Caracalla, and Geta, his brother and co-emperor. The amount of hours of cold chiseling dedicated to the supreme finishing of these remarkable bronzes is impossible to calculate, and the labour is evident in the detail. The original Roman marbles were part of the Medici collection held at the Uffizi, and the busts had been united as a pair under the reign of Grand Duke Cosimo III. Pietro Cipriani was Massimiliano Soldani-Benzi’s most able and competent assistant in Florence at the beginning of the 18th century. Due to his position he enjoyed direct contact with themilordi on the Grand Tour in one of Italy’s most cultured cities.

5

Barthélemy Prieur (c.1536-1611), Nemean Lion. Bronze, rich brown patina with extensive traces of red lacquer. Height: 17.8 cm

Barthélemy Prieur (c.1536-1611), like many other great sculptors from north of the Alps, was drawn to the Italian Peninsula to further his studies on sculpture. It is known that he was in Rome as early as the 1550s, presumably after finishing his initial training in France. The quality of the cast and chiseling, along with the extremely fine colour and condition, elevates Hercules Slaying the Nemean Lion to one of the finest of Prieur’s small-scale works. It is also a rare subject matter. Prieur has successfully rendered a large-scale subject on a tactile and intimate scale and has captured a heightened sense of tension and power in the model, as the muscular body of Hercules prises opens the jaws of the wild beast. Henri IV is known to have taken a liking to Prieur’s smaller bronzes which may have led to him working for the King upon his return to Paris in 1594, where he spent the remainder of his career until 1611.

6

Gregorio di Lorenzo (c. 1436 1504) formerly known as The Master of the Marble Madonnas. Portrait of King Ferdinand I (Ferrante) of Naples (1423-1494, reigned 1458-94), c. 1472. Marble, traces of gold lettering (along edge of his garment). Height: 50 cm; width: 35 cm 

This recently published relief portrait of King Ferrante of Naples by the Florentine sculptor Gregorio di Lorenzo (c.1436-c.1504), formerly known as The Master of the Marble Madonnas, will also appeal to connoisseurs of sculpture. Gregorio di Lorenzo has only recently been identified with the anonymous sculptor known as ‘the Master of the Marble Madonnas’. In 1455 he was a member of the sculptor Desiderio da Settignano’s workshop in Florence, and in 1461-62 Gregorio was commissioned by the Medici to carve the marble lavabo in the sacristy of the Badia at Fiesole. He appears to have been active primarily outside Florence, however, as is attested by the large number of his works in the Romagna, and in the Marche and Hungary, where he worked at the court of King Matthias Corvinus for several years.

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