Bronze sculpture "Mercury"

Stunning bronze sculpture of "Mercury" a follower of Giambologna, 184 cm tall. An imposing bronze sculpture depicting Mercury, a divinity from Greek and Roman mythology, which faithfully reproduces the famous bronze sculpture with Mercury in flight by Giambologna (pseudonym of Jean de Boulogne, Douai, 1529 – Florence, 1608), created in the first version between 1578 and 1580 commissioned by the Medici court. This first version by Giambologna, today preserved in the Bargello museum in Florence, is 187 centimeters high, but given the great appreciation it received, in the following years Giambologna made several replicas, almost all at a lower height, and many of them are today preserved in Italian and European museums. This present sculpture, 183 centimeters high, faithfully copies the first version of Giambologna's winged Mercury, maintaining practically all the main characteristics of the sixteenth-century original, in terms of dimensions, Mercury's slender pose and all its details: from the winged helmet to the caduceus, the typical winged staff, with wings on his ankles, symbols that refer to his surprising speed in moving as a messenger of the gods. With its agile figure that seems to move upwards, soaring into space, with a motion that involves the viewer, Giambologna's Mercury in Flight was a huge success right from the start and then also in the following centuries, becoming one of the most loved and replicas of the history of art. The present version is probably a creation to be dated to the last years of the nineteenth century or the first years of the twentieth century, and is part of that qualified production of artistic foundries which fed a flourishing market of copies taken from absolute masterpieces of the Renaissance and the sixteenth century, especially drawn from Tuscan art, from that golden age of art which was much loved and re-evaluated from historicist Romanticism onwards, up to the heartfelt admirations made famous by the writings of Gabriele D'Annunzio. These copies of high executive quality, like this one present here, were in great demand in Italy, in Europe and in the world, by collectors and lovers of ancient art, and therefore not only were they considered objects of rich furnishings for noble palaces and villas, but also works of art to be admired, strongly recalling a direct emotional relationship with the original. The present sculpture, resting on a black marble base, stands out not only for the correct formal and dimensional reproduction of the subject compared to Giambologna's original, but also for a careful technical rendering of the details, with a sculptural modeling pleasantly accompanied by a patina given by time which polishes the sculpture, rendering all its reflections from every point of view, being designed to be admired in the round. AUTHOR Foundry manufacturing (probably Tuscan) Follower of Giambologna SUBJECT Mercury in flight (from an original by Giambologna, now in the Bargello Museum in Florence, 1580) DATING Late 19th century - Early 20th century MATERIAL Bronze (on oval base in black marble) DIMENSIONS Height 185.