Attributed to Antonio Susini (1558 - 1624)
Attributed to Antonio Susini (1558 - 1624)
After Giambologna (1529 - 1608)
Italian, Florence, circa 1600 - 1620
Peasant resting on a staff
bronze, brown patina
12.9cm., 5in.
Catalogue Note:
The Peasant Resting on a Staff, together with The Bagpiper and The Birdcatcher, exemplifies a more naturalistic strand of Giambologna’s œuvre. Although celebrated as the leading sculptor of Florentine Mannerism, Giambologna was also heir to an artistic culture rooted in Northern Europe.
A statuette of the present model is first documented at the Uffizi in 1601, when two silver statuettes were lent to Antonio Susini, including one described as “a small silver figure of a peasant wearing a hat and leaning on a little staff” (Una figuretta d’argento di un villano con Capello con bastoncino che sappoggia su il bastone). The loan was presumably intended to facilitate the production of bronze casts after these models (see A. Radcliffe and Ch. Avery, op. cit., p. 165). In 1609, the inventory of Benedetto Gondi records « un pastorino ... di mano e l’originale del Cavaliere Gian Bologna », which may correspond to the model presented here. Another example is documented in the collection of Charles I of England in 1612, having been inherited from his brother, Prince Henry, while a further example belonged to the collection of Rudolf II in Prague. These records attest to the model’s international circulation as early as the beginning of the 17th century.
These pastoral subjects, inspired by rural life, also evoke the Arcadian ideal of harmony between humankind and nature. Their origins can be traced to an earlier phase of Giambologna’s career, between 1577 and 1583, when he produced statues of peasants, both male and female, for the gardens of the Medici villa at Pratolino (now lost). These genre figures may be compared with another group created for the Medici, in the Boboli Gardens overlooking the Palazzo Pitti. The models of The Peasant Resting on a Staff and The Bagpiper may also allude to the shepherds Tityrus and Meliboeus, protagonists of Virgil’s first Eclogue, a celebrated pastoral poem (see Max Wirgina in Scultori Fiamminghi, op. cit., p. 177). Indeed, ancient sculpture offers numerous precedents for subjects drawn from pastoral life, and the present composition has previously been compared with a 2nd century marble sculpture in the Palazzo Colonna.
The exceptional quality of the present cast, evident in the delicacy of its modelling, the expressive treatment of the face, the elegant hands with their meticulously delineated fingernails, and the finely rendered curls escaping from beneath the hat, supports an attribution to Antonio Susini. The precision of the chasing further reinforces this attribution. An emblematic figure of Italian Mannerism, Susini was among the foremost sculptors and bronze-casters active in Florence around the turn of the 17th century. The extraordinary refinement of the bronzetti attributed to him reflects the meticulous standards of goldsmithing in which he had been trained. As Giambologna’s principal collaborator, Susini continued after the master’s death to produce bronze reductions based on the latter’s models.
Other casts of The Peasant Resting on a Staff are held by the Staatliche Museen, Berlin (inv. no. 5030), the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (inv. M.2-1973), the Victoria & Albert Museum, London (inv. A.19-1971), and the Museo di Palazzo Venezia, Rome (inv. no. PV 10809). Further examples are found in important private collections of Renaissance bronzes, including the Claudia Quentin Collection. Finally, an example of The Peasant Resting on a Staff, paired with The Bagpiper, is currently featured in the exhibition Scultori Fiamminghi, organised by M Leuven. They illustrate the rich artistic and cultural exchanges between Italy and the Low Countries during the Renaissance (see op. cit., pp. 176-179).
RELATED LITERATURE
A. Radcliffe, C. Avery, Giambologna 1529-1608 Sculptor to the Medici, exh. cat. Edinburg and London, 1978, no. 137 and 138;
M. Leithe-Jasper, P. Wengraf, European Bronzes from the Quentin Collection, exh. cat. Frick Collection, New York, 2004, no. 13;
M. Debaene, B. Rummens (eds.), Scultori Fiamminghi. Artistic Exchange in Sculpture between the Low Countries and Italy 1500 - 1620, exh. cat. M-Leuven, 9 October 2026 - 28 February 2027.
Attributed to Antonio Susini (1558 - 1624)
After Giambologna (1529 - 1608)
Italian, Florence, circa 1600 - 1620
Peasant resting on a staff
bronze, brown patina
12.9cm., 5in.
Catalogue Note:
The Peasant Resting on a Staff, together with The Bagpiper and The Birdcatcher, exemplifies a more naturalistic strand of Giambologna’s œuvre. Although celebrated as the leading sculptor of Florentine Mannerism, Giambologna was also heir to an artistic culture rooted in Northern Europe.
A statuette of the present model is first documented at the Uffizi in 1601, when two silver statuettes were lent to Antonio Susini, including one described as “a small silver figure of a peasant wearing a hat and leaning on a little staff” (Una figuretta d’argento di un villano con Capello con bastoncino che sappoggia su il bastone). The loan was presumably intended to facilitate the production of bronze casts after these models (see A. Radcliffe and Ch. Avery, op. cit., p. 165). In 1609, the inventory of Benedetto Gondi records « un pastorino ... di mano e l’originale del Cavaliere Gian Bologna », which may correspond to the model presented here. Another example is documented in the collection of Charles I of England in 1612, having been inherited from his brother, Prince Henry, while a further example belonged to the collection of Rudolf II in Prague. These records attest to the model’s international circulation as early as the beginning of the 17th century.
These pastoral subjects, inspired by rural life, also evoke the Arcadian ideal of harmony between humankind and nature. Their origins can be traced to an earlier phase of Giambologna’s career, between 1577 and 1583, when he produced statues of peasants, both male and female, for the gardens of the Medici villa at Pratolino (now lost). These genre figures may be compared with another group created for the Medici, in the Boboli Gardens overlooking the Palazzo Pitti. The models of The Peasant Resting on a Staff and The Bagpiper may also allude to the shepherds Tityrus and Meliboeus, protagonists of Virgil’s first Eclogue, a celebrated pastoral poem (see Max Wirgina in Scultori Fiamminghi, op. cit., p. 177). Indeed, ancient sculpture offers numerous precedents for subjects drawn from pastoral life, and the present composition has previously been compared with a 2nd century marble sculpture in the Palazzo Colonna.
The exceptional quality of the present cast, evident in the delicacy of its modelling, the expressive treatment of the face, the elegant hands with their meticulously delineated fingernails, and the finely rendered curls escaping from beneath the hat, supports an attribution to Antonio Susini. The precision of the chasing further reinforces this attribution. An emblematic figure of Italian Mannerism, Susini was among the foremost sculptors and bronze-casters active in Florence around the turn of the 17th century. The extraordinary refinement of the bronzetti attributed to him reflects the meticulous standards of goldsmithing in which he had been trained. As Giambologna’s principal collaborator, Susini continued after the master’s death to produce bronze reductions based on the latter’s models.
Other casts of The Peasant Resting on a Staff are held by the Staatliche Museen, Berlin (inv. no. 5030), the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (inv. M.2-1973), the Victoria & Albert Museum, London (inv. A.19-1971), and the Museo di Palazzo Venezia, Rome (inv. no. PV 10809). Further examples are found in important private collections of Renaissance bronzes, including the Claudia Quentin Collection. Finally, an example of The Peasant Resting on a Staff, paired with The Bagpiper, is currently featured in the exhibition Scultori Fiamminghi, organised by M Leuven. They illustrate the rich artistic and cultural exchanges between Italy and the Low Countries during the Renaissance (see op. cit., pp. 176-179).
RELATED LITERATURE
A. Radcliffe, C. Avery, Giambologna 1529-1608 Sculptor to the Medici, exh. cat. Edinburg and London, 1978, no. 137 and 138;
M. Leithe-Jasper, P. Wengraf, European Bronzes from the Quentin Collection, exh. cat. Frick Collection, New York, 2004, no. 13;
M. Debaene, B. Rummens (eds.), Scultori Fiamminghi. Artistic Exchange in Sculpture between the Low Countries and Italy 1500 - 1620, exh. cat. M-Leuven, 9 October 2026 - 28 February 2027.
