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拍品专文
This group is after a model by Giambologna (1529-1608) and depicts the centaur Nessus seizing Deianira. The story was first described in Book IX of Ovid's Metamorphoses where Ovid recounts Hercules and Deianira journeying back to Tyrins and coming upon a swollen river which they had to cross. Nessus, who was already ferrying other people across it, saw them and offered to carry Deianira to the other bank. When Hercules reached the other side, however, Nessus turned around and abducted Deianira. On seeing this, Hercules drew an arrow that had previously been dipped in the Hydra's blood and shot it at Nessus. Moments before his death, and in an act of pure cunning, Nessus convinced Deianira to collect his blood and use it on Hercules as a love potion.
Variations of the story describe Nessus giving her a blood-stained garment, while others describe her collecting the blood in a vial. Either way, it was Deianira who delivered the poisoned blood to Hercules that finally killed him.
Until Giambologna conceived his bronze model of Nessus Abducting Deianira, the subject matter was rarely represented in Renaissance art. Giambologna was one of the main figures of the Mannerist movement in vogue in the 1520s which sought to break with the traditional canons of the Renaissance. This representation showed Giambologna's talents as a Mannerist sculptor whereby the group is no longer to be viewed only from the front but in rotation to appreciate all its aspects.
The Abduction of Deianira is one of the most recognized works of Giambologna and was reproduced several times not only in the sculptor's workshops but also in those of others sculptors as well as by goldsmiths. Three Augsburg-made silver and silver-gilt versions of this group are known to date, one in the Louvre by Tobias Kramer, dated 1615, gifted by Adolphe Rothschild, one in the Palace of Armour in Moscow by Andreas I Wickert dated 1630-1635 and finally the one sold at Christie's, Paris in 2009 from the collection of Yves Saint-Laurent and Pierre Bergé (23-25 February 2009, lot 177) also attributed to Andreas Wickert because of its unmistakable resemblance to the group in the Armoury (see H. Seling, Die Kunst der Augsburger Goldschmiede 1529-1868, Munich, 1980, vol. 2, ill. 484).
Variations of the story describe Nessus giving her a blood-stained garment, while others describe her collecting the blood in a vial. Either way, it was Deianira who delivered the poisoned blood to Hercules that finally killed him.
Until Giambologna conceived his bronze model of Nessus Abducting Deianira, the subject matter was rarely represented in Renaissance art. Giambologna was one of the main figures of the Mannerist movement in vogue in the 1520s which sought to break with the traditional canons of the Renaissance. This representation showed Giambologna's talents as a Mannerist sculptor whereby the group is no longer to be viewed only from the front but in rotation to appreciate all its aspects.
The Abduction of Deianira is one of the most recognized works of Giambologna and was reproduced several times not only in the sculptor's workshops but also in those of others sculptors as well as by goldsmiths. Three Augsburg-made silver and silver-gilt versions of this group are known to date, one in the Louvre by Tobias Kramer, dated 1615, gifted by Adolphe Rothschild, one in the Palace of Armour in Moscow by Andreas I Wickert dated 1630-1635 and finally the one sold at Christie's, Paris in 2009 from the collection of Yves Saint-Laurent and Pierre Bergé (23-25 February 2009, lot 177) also attributed to Andreas Wickert because of its unmistakable resemblance to the group in the Armoury (see H. Seling, Die Kunst der Augsburger Goldschmiede 1529-1868, Munich, 1980, vol. 2, ill. 484).