THE MOST ACCOMPLISHED DESIGNER OF PLAQUETTES IN RENAISSANCE ITALY
AN ARTIST THAT INFLUENCED DURER AND MICHELANGELO
The Plaquette:
GALEAZZO MONDELLA, called MODERNO (c.1467-1528/9). Plaquette : Saint Sébastien. Mondella Galeazzo, Moderno (after). [s.d, s.l., ; c. Very Early 16th Century, North Italian.] After a model attributed to Moderno before 1487. Cast Bronze Plaquette. 76 x 55 mm. Minor casting flaws in field, pierced; else sharp, almost Very Fine, attractive patina and color. Ref: Kress 154, Lewis II (Lewis, D. ‘The Plaquettes of ‘Moderno’ and his Followers’, Studies in the History of Art, 21, Washington DC, 1987) [SOLD]
Moderno was one of the most admired Renaissance designers of small bronze plaquettes which explored religious or antique themes. Humanist collectors kept these in their study for contemplation as well as affixed them to objects for a functional decorative use. The plaquette for sale here is a very handsome early 16th century bronze cast, and an example from the earlier part of Moderno’s oeuvre when his work was modeled on Mantegna (especially during Mantegna’s period in Mantua, when Moderno may have had access to his studio) rather than his later Roman classical influenced designs. Moderno’s plaquettes were extremely influential, especially in the Veneto, Emilia and Lombady regions. Farther afield, Albrecht Durer and Hans Holbein copied his designs, as well as French Renaissance artists, one of the best creations of which (David and a Companion with the Dead Goliath) provided Michelangelo with the a model for a figure for his Last Judgement in the Sistine Chapel.
Additional online references: See Havard Fogg Museum: www.harvardartmuseums.org/collection/detail.dot?objectid=1934.81&globalSearchText=moderno
Also, the Plaquette in the Musée du Louvre www.europeana.eu/portal/record/03903/BB8AFE6B05B877FC38958265A7C77F3F0B12D42B.html
CIRCLE OF OR ATTR. to Lodovico Cardi known as Cigoli (1559-1613)The Head:”Scorticato “Head (échorché; flayed head). Possibly Attr. Lodovico Cardi known as Cigoli (1559-1613) [s.d. s.l; Florence, circa late 16th century]. Calcined gypsum/Plaster. Size (On base approx. 23 cm, Head Only 13 cm.) Ecorché statuettes, or flayed anatomic models, were popular during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. [SOLD]
The Famous “OLD MAN SHADING HIS EYES WITH HIS HAND”
The Etching:
REMBRANDT HARMENSZ. VAN RIJN 1606-1669. “OLD MAN SHADING HIS EYES WITH HIS HAND” (BARTSCH, HOLLSTEIN 259; HIND 169; BIORKLUND 38-3) etching with drypoint, circa 1639, a fine, sharp impression, 131 x 102 mm.
Why Rembrandt left this enigmatic print unfinished had been the subject of considerable scholarly debate. Rembrandt broke from his usual practice of developing the setting before the figure; here the figure was attended to first and left floating amidst a cloud of loosely drawn lines. Some scholars have speculated that Rembrandt may have been commercially motivated, purposely leaving a print unfinished for a market that commanded premiums for early proofs and first states. However, it is more likely that an artist interested in human nature, the frailty of man, the effect and importance of light, and the vulnerability of sight, may have been merely interested in depicting the simple beauty of an old man blinded by the harsh sun.
Preserved with the Extremely Rare Medieval Wrought Iron Chain Still Intact
The Box:
[Medieval Money Box][Alms Box] Wood (Oak) and Iron, circa 1450, Netherlands. 25 cm. tall with an additional 51 cm. iron chain attached with fittings. Some minor wood loss, but well preserved with the original chain still intact (a great rarity). The box is locked with the key presumably rattling inside.
Such money or alms boxes often collected funds for local hospitals as well as churches, in keeping with a Christian’s religious duty to donate money for the poor. Boxes were opened about once a month with the contents counted and handed over to a hospital secretary or priest.
At the St. Nicholas Hospital in Kent is preserved as an example, the famous “Erasmus money or alms box”. “When Erasmus visited the hospital in the company of Dean Colet, one of the brethren presented a holy relic, a portion of Becket’s shoe, for the travellers to kiss before being sprinkled with holy water. The dean declined the proffered favour with such an outburst of wrathful rhetoric that the courteous Erasmus must needs made amends by dropping a goodly donation into the box, at that time fastened by a chain, of which a few links remain, to a tree near the hospital gate, or at the end of a long pole, so that the passer-by might give his donation at a safe distance from the infected lepers.” [The box may be seen here]
Incidentally, Erasmus is also generally credited with coining the English phrase “Pandora’s box”, arising through an error in his translation of Pandora by Hesiod in which he confused “pithos”, storage jar, with “pyxis”, box. It is a befitting word of playful caution, when opening the example for sale here, which has been locked with the key inside.
The Drawing:
[Old Master Drawing] Diana and Endymion? [s.l., s.d., likely Bologna c. 1590] 26 x 26 cm. Collector’s marks to recto and verso as depicted. Likely reinforced/laid down, possible later pen outline additions. Overall, a well executed and handsome drawing which merits additional research.
Original 17th Century Italian Painting: Attr. Bernardo Strozzi. (1581-1644).
The Painting:
Attr. Bernardo Strozzi, il Prete Genovese (1581-1644). Head of a Bearded Man or Philosopher Gazing Upwards. Oil on Canvas. 62 x 51 in-frame; 47 x 38 cm., out-of frame, relined. “Bernardo Strozzi was a principal figure in the development of painting in seventeenth century Genoa and Venice” (Ref: Christies). This is a very fine and attractive portrait, quite possibly based on a live sitter, and one which exhibits Strozzi’s broad and expressive brushstrokes.
The Painting:
A Haarlem Street Scene. c. 1660s. Oil on Canvas, 76 x 65cm. in-frame; 58 x 45 cm. out-of frame. Old attribution on verso of frame to Job Adriaensz Berckh-Heyde; i.e. Gerrit Adriaensz. Berckheyde (Haarlem 1638-1698) Indistinct signature and date (?) to lower left under wheel, possibly 1669. Overall a beautiful, well executed, and light-filled scene.
The Paintings:
Two Portraits. Oil on copper. c. 1650. Each in-frame 21 X 16 cm., out of frame 8 x 6 cm., These two very interesting and unresearched portraits were originally purchased years ago as two Puritan Ministers. They may, stylistically, also be 17th century Dutch.
The Painting:
[Rubens School; Cornelius Schut] “Rape of Europa” . [s.l. s.d., circa Antwerp, 1640s] 167 x 132 cm. in Frame; approx . 148 x 112 cm. Out-of-Frame; Original canvas and wooden supports; worn as depicted and in need of restoration and cleaning; c. late 19th century gold-leaf frame
An exuberant Baroque painting of a highly desirable subject, following in the tradition of the treatment of the subject matter by Veronese and Titian. The painting derives most directly from, but does not precisely copy, the Rape of Europa, now attributed to Cornelius Schut in the Hermitage. It should be noted that the Hermitage painting measures 61 x 84 cm., while the painting for sale here is considerably larger. Generally, that should be the opposite if the painting was a mere copy.
“The mythographers tell that Zeus was enamored of Europa and decided to seduce or ravish her, the two being near-equivalent in Greek myth. He transformed himself into a tame white bull and mixed in with her father’s herds. While Europa and her female attendants were gathering flowers, she saw the bull, caressed his flanks, and eventually got onto his back. Zeus took that opportunity and ran to the sea and swam, with her on his back, to the island of Crete. He then revealed his true identity, and Europa became the first queen of Crete. Zeus gave her a necklace made by Hephaestus[17] and three additional gifts: Talos, Laelaps and a javelin that never missed. Zeus later re-created the shape of the white bull in the stars, which is now known as the constellation Taurus.” [Wikipedia]
The painting’s composition relates as well to two known masterpieces:
1)Veronese’s Rape of Europa in the National Gallery. See the link here.
2) Hendrik van Balen I (1575-1632) rape of Europa in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
See the link here.
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