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拍品专文
A sculptor known for his harmony, voluminosity, and lightness in composition, Giuseppe Piamontini studied at the Medici Academy in the early 1680s. He worked primarily in Rome and Florence, taking numerous private commissions.
The present lot is one of four known tabletop bronzes by Piamontini of Meleager standing in front of an effigy with Diana. One version was acquired by Filippo Martelli in 1720 and is now incorporated into the Musei del Bargello (see D. Zikos in Old Master Sculpture and Works of Art, Sotheby’s, London, 6 July 2021, under lot 66). That version, which features a notably well preserved patina, shows the idol of Diana facing the figure of Meleager. Two other versions are held privately, one formerly owned by Philip Hewat-Jaboor with the idol set at an angle (Sotheby’s, 6 December 2022, lot 21), and one formerly with Michael Hall (Christie’s, 5 December 1989, lot 97) where the idol faces front as does the present lot.
It is likely that one of the four known casts of this composition once formed part of the Medici collections as noted in the 1761 inventory of its holdings where it is meticulously described, though none have been definitively connected to the inventory. In that collection, the group of Meleager functioned as a pair with a bronze group of Diana with her hounds, also by Piamontini (J. Montagu, ‘Some small sculptures by Giuseppe Piamontini’, in Antichità Viva, XIII, 1974, p. 14).
As with his other small bronzes, Piamontini drew inspiration for this subject from Antiquity. Euripides’ story of Meleager, of which only fragments remain, narrates the Calydonian boar hunt wherein Diana has sent the great boar to ravage the country in retribution for King Oeneus failing to offer a sacrifice to her after a hunt. Meleager, the king’s son, gathers numerous heroes to hunt the boar including Atalanta, the fleet-footed huntress who is the first to wound the boar. In the end, Meleager is successful in slaying the beast and Atalanta is awarded the head of the boar which features in the altar in Piamontini’s composition of a triumphant and reconciliatory moment in the narrative. The boar’s head would later be taken from Atalanta by Meleager’s uncles and tragedy ensues following his response to the injustice.
For this scene in which Meleager offers sacrifice to the goddess of the hunt, Piamontini took direct inspiration from Antique gems such as one in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (E. Zwierlein-Diehl, Die antiken Gemmen des Kunstistorischen Museum Wien, Munich 1973-1991, vol. I, no. 494, fig. 82) which includes corresponding details to all of the prominent features in the group. Notably, these gems portray Meleager holding two spears which corresponds to the description of Piamontini’s bronze in the Medici collection - ‘with two spears in this left hand’ (see D. Zikos catalogue entry for Sotheby’s, 6 December, lot 21). The Vatican Meleager (today Museo Vaticano, inv. 490) would also have offered Piamontini and his patrons inspiration; in the sculptor’s lifetime it was part of the Fusconi-Pighini collection in Rome where it would have been known to him.
The present lot is one of four known tabletop bronzes by Piamontini of Meleager standing in front of an effigy with Diana. One version was acquired by Filippo Martelli in 1720 and is now incorporated into the Musei del Bargello (see D. Zikos in Old Master Sculpture and Works of Art, Sotheby’s, London, 6 July 2021, under lot 66). That version, which features a notably well preserved patina, shows the idol of Diana facing the figure of Meleager. Two other versions are held privately, one formerly owned by Philip Hewat-Jaboor with the idol set at an angle (Sotheby’s, 6 December 2022, lot 21), and one formerly with Michael Hall (Christie’s, 5 December 1989, lot 97) where the idol faces front as does the present lot.
It is likely that one of the four known casts of this composition once formed part of the Medici collections as noted in the 1761 inventory of its holdings where it is meticulously described, though none have been definitively connected to the inventory. In that collection, the group of Meleager functioned as a pair with a bronze group of Diana with her hounds, also by Piamontini (J. Montagu, ‘Some small sculptures by Giuseppe Piamontini’, in Antichità Viva, XIII, 1974, p. 14).
As with his other small bronzes, Piamontini drew inspiration for this subject from Antiquity. Euripides’ story of Meleager, of which only fragments remain, narrates the Calydonian boar hunt wherein Diana has sent the great boar to ravage the country in retribution for King Oeneus failing to offer a sacrifice to her after a hunt. Meleager, the king’s son, gathers numerous heroes to hunt the boar including Atalanta, the fleet-footed huntress who is the first to wound the boar. In the end, Meleager is successful in slaying the beast and Atalanta is awarded the head of the boar which features in the altar in Piamontini’s composition of a triumphant and reconciliatory moment in the narrative. The boar’s head would later be taken from Atalanta by Meleager’s uncles and tragedy ensues following his response to the injustice.
For this scene in which Meleager offers sacrifice to the goddess of the hunt, Piamontini took direct inspiration from Antique gems such as one in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (E. Zwierlein-Diehl, Die antiken Gemmen des Kunstistorischen Museum Wien, Munich 1973-1991, vol. I, no. 494, fig. 82) which includes corresponding details to all of the prominent features in the group. Notably, these gems portray Meleager holding two spears which corresponds to the description of Piamontini’s bronze in the Medici collection - ‘with two spears in this left hand’ (see D. Zikos catalogue entry for Sotheby’s, 6 December, lot 21). The Vatican Meleager (today Museo Vaticano, inv. 490) would also have offered Piamontini and his patrons inspiration; in the sculptor’s lifetime it was part of the Fusconi-Pighini collection in Rome where it would have been known to him.