Leseprobe

140 Nessus and Deianira Jean de Boulogne, called Giambologna, workshop Douai 1529–1608 Florence c. 1600 Bronze; 77.7×48.5×29 cm Purchased in Venice, c. 1722/23 Inv. no. H4 156/51 This depiction of Nessus and Deianira is an enlarged and reversed version of a small bronze signed by Giambologna and sent to Dresden in 1587 (p. 134). Also this group – although its modelling is of a less fine quality – has a remarkable provenance: the magnificent marble plinth and inscription tell us that it can be identified with a statuette that by 1605 at the latest decorated the palazzo of Count Agostino Giusti (1546 –1615) in Verona. Giusti was a key figure of cultural life in Verona, even acting as the city’s ambassador at the 1589 wedding of Ferdinand I de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany and Christine of Lorraine. In 1600, the count accompanied Maria de’ Medici to France for her marriage to King Henry IV. The grand duke might have presented the bronze subsequently as a gift to Giusti who then commissioned the inscribed pedestal in a particularly rare marble from Val- larsa, north of Verona. After the count’s death, the Marcello family of Venice purchased the figural group. In the early 18th century, it was owned by the Vene- tian art dealer Valentino Nicoletti, from whom Leplat ultimately acquired it for Dresden. The fact that it was documented during Giambologna’s lifetime shows that his workshop produced bronzes of far more varying quality than previously thought.  |  ckg