Lot 12. Giambologna (Douai, 1529-1608, Florence), probably cast in 1584, Sleeping Nymph, bronze; 20.5 cm high; 34.3 cm long, the bronze. Price realised USD 5,979,000 (Estimate USD 800,000 – USD 1,200,000). © Christie's 2024

Provenance: Cardinal Ferdinando de' Medici (1549-1609), Villa Medici, Rome, acquired from the artist (almost certainly).
Sotheby's, Florence, circa 1979 (probably).
with Black & Nadeau Gallery, Monte-Carlo, 1980-circa 1982.
John Ryan Gaines (1928-2005), Lexington, Kentucky, acquired from the above, circa 1982-June 1993.
with Patricia Wengraf, London (then trading as Alex Wengraf, Ltd.).
Acquired from the above, 1995.

Literature: C. Avery, Giambologna 1529-1608. Sculptor to the Medici, exh. cat. Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh and Victoria & Albert Museum, London, 1978, p. 120, under no. 72.
C. Avery, Giambologna, 1529-1608. Ein Wendepunkt der europäischen Plastik, exh. cat., Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, 1978, p. 164, 'b' under no. 72.
C. Avery, Jean Bologne: La Belle Endormie, Paris, 2000, p. 34, no. A.4, figs. 14, 27, 59, attributed as 'after Giambologna', as La belle endormie.

Exhibited: Monte Carlo, Black-Nadeau, Sculpture and Works of Art: 1500 to 1900, 1980, no. 5, as Reclining Nymph.
New York, The Frick Collection, European Bronzes from the Quentin Collection, 28 September 2004-2 January 2005, pp. 134-145, no. 11.
New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2017-2021, on long-term loan, no. 2017.40.4a, b.

Note: A conception of subtle eroticism, Giambologna’s model of a Sleeping Nymph juxtaposes a smooth and elongated body with exquisitely fine details, the carefully relaxed torso complementing the more complex compositional elements of both the drapery and the couch on which the nymph rests. First recorded in a document dated 7 April 1584, the authorship of the model is given to the Medici court sculptor Giambologna in numerous early sources has never been questioned. Inspiration for the composition is likely to have come from multiple sources to which the sculptor would have had access, notably the ancient marble of Ariadne (Vatican Museum, inv. 548), the marble sarcophagus relief of the Discovery of Ariadne (now Blenheim Palace but formerly Palazzo della Valle, Rome), as well as painted sources such as Giorgione and Titian’s reclining nudes.

Of the known versions of this model, including those which entered royal collections across Europe during the artist’s lifetime, many include a second figure of a satyr whose lurid presence accentuates the overt eroticism of the reclining nude. Among these, the cast recorded in the collection of the Elector Christian I of Saxony in 1587 is closest to the present bronze both stylistically and technically. However, a number of details such as the slightly smaller dimensions of the base of the Dresden bronze suggest that it may be a later cast of the present bronze. The version originally cast for Cardinal Ferdinando de’ Medici in 1584 – mentioned above - was first described just as a sleeping nude but was recorded in a later inventory as two figures, a Venus being watched by a satyr. The drilled - not cast - holes in the integral base of the present bronze suggest that a later figure may have been added, and was subsequently lost. When combined with the likelihood that the Quentin cast pre-dates the Dresden bronze of 1587, there is a strong case to suggest that the present bronze is the cast recorded in the collection of Cardinal Ferdinando de’ Medici in 1584.

With nuanced details and differing variations of line from every angle, the sensual nature of the composition is embellished by a vanitas mask under the curve of the head of the bed. This winged skull would invoke death to a contemporary viewer for both moralizing effect and to draw a comparison between sleep and death. Some of the other known versions alternately feature a bat in lieu of the skull seen here.

Christie's. The Quentin Collection: Masterpieces of Renaissance and Baroque Sculpture, New York, 30 january 2024