Lot 196

Pin missing from right arm, drilled holes to base, overall in good condition consistent with age.


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Please note condition reports can be amended during the pre-sale period, so we strongly suggest any interested bidders check the published condition report available on the website before the auction commences. Leonard Joel makes no guarantee of the originality of mechanical or applied components. Absence of reference to such modifications does not imply that a lot is free from modifications.

Flemish sculptor Jean de Boulogne moved to Italy in 1550 to study the sculpture of classical antiquity. It was here that he became known as Giovanni da Bologna, or more commonly Giambologna. As the court sculptor to three successive Medici Grand Dukes, Giambologna's influence on European sculpture was tremendous. Under the patronage of Francesco De' Medici in Florence, he created numerous sculptures for public spaces, bronzes and marbles for the Medici gardens, and also widely disseminated his works by creating bronze statuettes which became popular collector's items. These works were admired for their refined surfaces, elegance,
beauty, and sense of dynamism.

Giambologna met Michelangelo in Rome early in his career and the aging master had a formative influence on his artistic process. Taking inspiration from both Hellenistic sculpture and the Classical contrapposto stance which is most often associated with Michelangelo's masterpiece David, Giambologna further exaggerated the pose in his works, revitalising Florentine sculpture which had become overly academic and stagnant in the mid-16th century. His complex and energetic marble group depicting Samson slaying a Philistine (1561-62) and his bronze Fountain of Neptune (1563), commissioned by Pope Pius IV, cemented his reputation in elite circles at the time, and continue to demonstrate his technical virtuosity to this day.

Giambologna's most celebrated composition is his flying figure of Mercury, messenger of the gods, and god of all things requiring skill and dexterity. According to the early art historian Giorgio Vasari, Giambologna's original bronze of Mercury was sent as a diplomatic gift to Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II as part of marriage negotiations between the emperor's sister Johanna and Francesco de' Medici. Emperor Maximilian considered Mercury to be his personal protector and a 1551 medal of Maximilian with the flying god on the reverse by Leone Leoni is thought to have been the inspiration for Giambologna's gift.

Giambologna is known to have completed at least four versions of Mercury, though the chronology is uncertain, and it is unknown which version was sent to the emperor. Thought to embody Mannerist ideals in sculpture, Mercury was created to be viewed from all angles and was designed to direct the viewer's eye around it, feigning a sense of movement and seemingly defying gravity. The god is propelled into the air by the breath of Zephyrus, which escapes from the mouth of a putto.

Owing to its popularity, numerous statuettes of Giambologna's iconic Mercury were produced by well-known founders for the Grand Tour market of young nobility travelling and studying throughout Europe in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. However, examples such as the present lot, finely cast and of a good size were expensive and remain rare.

Marcella Fox | Sydney Manager