Offered by Franck Baptiste Paris
Rare pair of finely chiseled and mercury-gilded bronze horses.
They are shown rearing up on both hind legs, with their heads slightly turned to the side.
Open mouths, dilated pupils and erect ears tell us that they have just pounced.
Their bulging muscles demonstrate all the power of this effort.
Our two equines are not wild horses but horses perfectly trained and maintained by the hand of man
as indicated by their finely styled manes.
Great quality of carving.
Beautiful original mercury gilding.
Very good state of conservation; some small natural wear to the gilding.
Rear wooden bases covered with old red silk.
Italian work, Venice around 1750.
Dimensions:
Total height: 30 cm
Horses: Height: 21 cm; width: 23 cm
Base: Height: 8 cm; Width: 17cm; Depth: 8.5 cm
Our opinion :
The iconography of our horses is directly inspired by Greek antiquity; we find similar heads on the frieze of the Parthenon in Athens.
But the most famous sculpture remains the quadriga in St Mark's Square which dates from the Hellenistic period.
This iconography will be taken up by the great sculptors of the Italian Renaissance such as Donatello and his famous bronze head called “Protomé Carafa” which is today kept at the Archaeological Museum of Naples.
If other great sculptors like Giambolona, ??Susini, Tacca... will try their hand at equestrian representation, they will offer either prancing wild horses or perfectly trained horses raising their paws.
Our two horses are atypical in that they are trained mounts but jump wildly.
This particularity is found on the horses of Marly which Guillaume Coustou described as “escaped horses held back by the grooms”.
The success of this work was so considerable during the reign of Louis XV that bronze workers like Caffieri produced bronzes and andirons representing variants of this sculpture.
Another quadriga discovered in Herculaneum at the same period (1738) and which still presents this Greek iconography could also have served as a source of inspiration.
The carving and mercury gilding of our bronzes correspond perfectly to this production from the mid-18th century and it is possible to think of a sculptor from northern Italy inspired by French art which is very fashionable at that time but also classical antiquity preserved in the kingdom.
This production of small equestrian bronzes intended for cabinets of curiosities will experience undeniable success from the Renaissance to the modern era, the horse being synonymous with tamed nature but also with the complicity between humans and their equine which remains their only means of transport.
Bronzes gilded with mercury were produced in Florence, it was especially in Venice that this technique flourished.
Although the identity of our sculptor is not known to date, his knowledge of equine anatomy and the quality of his casting, chasing and gilding technique point us towards a seasoned master.
The preciousness of our pair of bronzes is reinforced by the fact that it is a true asymmetrical pair in terms of the inclination of the head, each horse coming out of a different mold.
