Lot 79: ATTRIBUTED TO MASSIMILIANO SOLDANI BENZI (1656-1740) ITALIAN, FLORENCE, EARLY 18TH CENTURY

LEDA AND THE SWAN

32cm.,12½in.

bronze

Italian, Florence, early 18th century<BR>After the Antique

In 1701, the Prince of Liechtenstein requested that Soldani send him twelve terracotta figures after the best classical and High-Renaissance sculptures in the Uffizi. In 1702, twelve wax bozzettos were sent off with a covering note to emphasize that although roughly finished, Soldani would be prepared to cast identical models if the Prince desired them as cabinet pieces. The statuettes became a great success and entered several noble collections. Several models were copied by the Doccia porcelain factory from the 1760s.

Three models from the series, the present and the two following lots, all possess the soft, fluttering folds of drapery and fine finish characteristic of Soldani. Details such as the faces, hands and drapery are meticulously chased. The warm reddish lacquer over the brown patina is also indicative of early 18 (th)-century Florentine bronzes.

Soldani modelled the figure of Leda after a classical marble preserved in the Uffizi. The only other known bronze versions of Leda are one formerly in the collection of Cyril Humphris, sold at Sotheby's New York on 11 January 1995, lot 135a and the damaged cast in the Bargello. A bronze version is also mentioned in the 1730 inventory of the Kürfürst von der Pfalz in Düsseldorf; the current location of this statuette is unknown.

RELATED LITERATURE
K. Lankheit, 'Eine serie barocker Antiken-Nachbildungen aus der Werkstatt des Massimiliano Soldani', Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Römische Abteilung, 65, 1958, pl. 60,2; C. Avery, 'Soldani's small bronze statuettes after "Old Master" Sculptures in Florence', Studies in European Sculpture, London, 1981, pp. 122?32; K. Lankheit, Die Modellsammlung der Porzellanmanufaktur Doccia. Ein Dokument italienischer Barockplastik, Munich, 1982