Minerva - Tiziano Aspetti, Venice late 16th early 17th century

Tiziano Aspetti (1557/1559 - 1606) 
Representation of the goddess Minerva.
Patinated bronze.
Venice, late 16th, early 17th century.

Tiziano Aspetti came from a line of Paduan bronzemakers. His oncle Tiziano Minio gave him the taste for statuette. He was  specialized in bas-reliefs, such as those he realized for the city of Padua, and statuettes, with baroque representations of an uncommon strength.

Venetian foundries were particularly famous for their small bronzes in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Indeed, these were created by the greatest artists of the time and the foundries competed with each other to make high quality models.

Tiziano Aspetti learned and distinguished himself in Venice by his mastery of Baroque sculpture. He worked for Grimari, one of the greatest patrons of northern Italy, an antique dealer and collector. He restored antique sculptures and created bronzes for him.

Our sculpture represents the goddess Minerva. She is wearing an elaborate armor with a helmet. She is brandishing a spear with one hand while holding a shield with the other. She adopts a very mannerist contraposto typical of Venetian sculptures from the late sixteenth to early seventeenth century.
A model very similar to ours, with identical ornamentation on the armor is kept in the Museo Civico Medievale in Bologna, under the inventory number 1492.
Other models are kept in the Musei Civici di Arte in Ferrara, in the Museo Nazionale del Palazzo Venezia in Rome and finally in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.