Lot 475: GIUSEPPE PIAMONTINI

MILO OF CROTON
on later black slate base, light golden brown patina beneath traces of red-gold transluscent varnish and brown lacquer

height 17 1/8 in.; 43.4 cm

bronze

<P>circa 1729</P>

Leithe-Jasper and Wengraf 2004, p. 260; Zikos 2005, figs. 39 and 40, pp. 52 and 54 (illus.)

Alex Wengraf, Ltd.

This fine bronze, meticulously chased in Piamontini's characteristic manner, was previously attributed to Philippe Bertrand based on comparisons with his bronzes of male figures with sinuous bodies and detailed surfaces as well as with a nearly identical bronze in the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore attributed to him. Patricia Wengraf (Leithe-Jasper and Wengraf 2004, op.cit, p.260) subsequently suggested an attribution to Piamontini for both the present bronze and the Baltimore bronze, and this view was upheld by Zikos (Zikos,op.cit., p.54).

The two bronzes appear to relate to a marble figure of Milo by Piamontini that he exhibited in 1729 in SS. Annunziata, Florence. The complex composition, the torsion of the body, the emotional intensity of the face together with the individual treatment of the surface and flowing drapery all signify Piamontini's hand.
Milo of Croton was a legendary Greek athlete, renowned for his strength. Upon seeing an oak tree, partially split open by a wedge, he tried to pull it apart but disloged the wedge trapping his hands.