After Giovanni Battista Foggini (1652-1725), a French patinated bronze model of the Arrotino after the Antique, 18th century

After Giovanni Battista Foggini (1652-1725), a French patinated bronze model of the Arrotino after the Antique, 18th century, possibly from the workshop of Joseph Vinache (1653 - after 1717), the bearded male subject portrayed seated on a rock and grinding a knife on the block before him, on a textured rectangular base cast with foliage, 29cm high, 31cm wide, 16cm deep

Florentine Baroque sculptor Foggini was commissioned to create a life size model of the much-admired Arrotino for King Louis XIV in 1684, to be displayed at Versailles. The Antique marble, which was first recorded in an engraving by Maarten van Heemskerck in 1532 and had been in the collection of Cardinal Ferdinando de' Medici, had certainly moved to the Uffizi Gallery by 1680. Though the work has invited many interpretations, the male subject is most often believed to be the executioner of the satyr Marsyas, whose death by flaying is described in Ovid's Metamorphoses.
When Foggini's Arrotino and its pendant, a crouching Venus after the antique by Coysevox, were moved from Versailles to the Tuileries, a pair of life size models in bronze were commissioned to replace them in 1688-9. These casts have been variously attributed to the Keller foundry and, convincingly, to the specialist foundry of Joseph Vinache (1653 - after 1717). Many reductions of the Arrotino were cast around this time, including one 18th century example at the Wallace Collection, which has been suggested to originate from the foundry of Vinache due to its very similar or identical patterns of terrain to the base.
The chasing, finishing and dimensions of the present lot closely resemble the model at the Wallace Collection (note for example the foliage to the plinth), which could indicate that it originated from the same foundry as that example. Of particular note is the distinctive incised roundel beside the rectangular block, which is possibly a tooler's mark.

Early 18th Century versions of the Arrotino, or 'Rotatore' as he is sometimes called, have occasionally appeared on the market. See for example Sotheby's London, Old Master Sculpture and Works of Art, 8 July 2011, lot 67, where the model was sold with the Venus after Coysevox as its pendant.

Literature:
Robert Wenley, French Bronzes in the Wallace Collection, London 2002, pp. 42-45
Francis Haskell and Nicholas Penny, Taste and the Antique: The Lure of Classical Sculpture, 1500-1900, Yale University Press, 1981, pp. 154-157

Condition Report:
The patina is quite a dark brown interspersed with attractive lighter wear to the arms, feet and other exposed extremities. The forehead and brow are slightly lighter too. There is one area of green to the left upper arm. Fine crack between handle and blade of knife, probably a restoration. One or two later drilled areas to underside, probably where it was previously mounted to a base.