Pietro Cipriani (circa 1679-1745), after the Antique Florence, circa 1723...
Pietro Cipriani (circa 1679 - 1745)
After the Antique
Florence, circa 1723 - 1724
Busts of Geta and Plautilla
bronze, on verde di Prato socles
bronzes: 47cm., 18½in. each
62cm., 24⅜in. each overall
(2)
Catalogue Note:
The present busts of Plautilla and Geta are associated with the most ambitious commission received by Pietro Cipriani. They remained for nearly three centuries in one of the earliest and most distinguished sculpture galleries established in Great Britain during the first quarter of the 18th century. They are related to the wave of anticomania that compelled Grand Tour travellers to embark on a relentless quest for the finest casts after the most celebrated antique models. They also testify to Cipriani’s outstanding craftsmanship, which enabled him to rival his master, Massimiliano Soldani-Benzi (1656–1740), and are distinguished by a treatment of the surface that is both dazzling and highly individual.
Pietro Cipriani and the Macclesfield Bronzes
Passing through Florence during the winter of 1721–1722, George Parker (c. 1697–1764) marvelled at the treasures of the grand-ducal city, one of the highlights of his long formative journey through Italy. The young lord was also charged with prospecting on behalf of his father, Thomas Parker (1666–1732), 1st Earl of Macclesfield, in search of the finest and most faithful copies after the Antique for the sculpture gallery then being established at Shirburn Castle (Oxfordshire), which he had acquired in 1716. Parker was accompanied by his tutor, Edward Wright, whose notes, published in 1730 and again in 1764, recount the remarkable discoveries made during their journey and describe in detail the circumstances in which the present busts were eventually acquired by Lord Macclesfield.
In his notes, the tutor dwells on the description of the Uffizi and conveys the impact made upon visitors by the masterpieces of the Medici collections, assembled in the ‘glorious octagonal Room called the Tribuna, which looks like a little Temple inhabited by Goddesses’ (Wright, op. cit., p. 405). George initially commissioned two life-size bronzes after the Medici Venus and the Dancing Faun, the jewels of this sanctuary to the glory of the Ancients (inv. 1914, nos. 224 and 220). Between 1695 and 1702, Soldani had already successfully undertaken the casting of the first life-size examples after these models, a remarkable technical achievement at the time, which were promptly acquired by Johann Adam Andreas I, Prince of Liechtenstein (inv. nos. SK 537 and SK 541).
Lord Parker seems, however, to have been unaware of the precedents in the Liechtenstein collection. According to Wright, he was instead impressed by other examples produced in Soldani’s workshop, around 1709, for the gallery of the Duke of Marlborough at Blenheim: ‘These four capital statues [the Medici Venus, the Dancing Faun, the Arrotino and the group of the Wrestlers] were cast in copper (sic), exceeding well, by Signor Soldani, for the Duke of Marlborough, and are now at Blenheim’ (ibid., p. 412). The dazzling reflections of the rich translucent patina, characteristic of Florentine bronzes, which Soldani mastered to perfection, enhance the naturally orange-golden tones of the copper alloy and may here account for the author’s confusion.
Pietro Cipriani was entrusted with the execution of this prestigious commission, certainly on Soldani’s recommendation, as the latter was then occupied with the funerary monument of Fra Marcantonio Zondadari, Grand Master of the Order of St John of Malta. The two Florentine sculptors knew each other well, since the former was the latter’s principal collaborator, under whom he had acquired considerable experience. From the early 1720s, Cipriani began to establish his independence from his master and attracted a clientele of milordi, the Italian term used for British aristocrats undertaking the Grand Tour, among them Horace Walpole.
In his notes, Wright stresses the established reputation of the sculptor under consideration: ‘When my Lord Parker was at Florence, and greatly delighted with these statues, Signor Pietro Cipriani, an excellent artist, and formerly a scholar of Soldani, and his assistant in casting those statues for the Duke of Marlborough, undertook to make for him copies in copper of the Venus and the Faun, which he engaged should at least equal Soldani’s, and be the most exact that ever were made’ (ibid., p. 412). Thus, Cipriani offered the double advantage of having already become familiar with the two antique marbles during the production of the Marlborough examples, for which he had assisted Soldani, and of having access to the moulds for the latter, since they belonged to his master.
The sculptor proved fully equal to his promises; his two outstanding bronzes, which remained at Shirburn Castle until 2005 (Christie’s, London, 1 December 2005, lot 64), are now in the J. Paul Getty Museum (inv. nos. 2008.41.1 and 2008.41.2).
The particular case of...
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Pietro Cipriani (circa 1679 - 1745)
After the Antique
Florence, circa 1723 - 1724
Busts of Geta and Plautilla
bronze, on verde di Prato socles
bronzes: 47cm., 18½in. each
62cm., 24⅜in. each overall
(2)
Catalogue Note:
The present busts of Plautilla and Geta are associated with the most ambitious commission received by Pietro Cipriani. They remained for nearly three centuries in one of the earliest and most distinguished sculpture galleries established in Great Britain during the first quarter of the 18th century. They are related to the wave of anticomania that compelled Grand Tour travellers to embark on a relentless quest for the finest casts after the most celebrated antique models. They also testify to Cipriani’s outstanding craftsmanship, which enabled him to rival his master, Massimiliano Soldani-Benzi (1656–1740), and are distinguished by a treatment of the surface that is both dazzling and highly individual.
Pietro Cipriani and the Macclesfield Bronzes
Passing through Florence during the winter of 1721–1722, George Parker (c. 1697–1764) marvelled at the treasures of the grand-ducal city, one of the highlights of his long formative journey through Italy. The young lord was also charged with prospecting on behalf of his father, Thomas Parker (1666–1732), 1st Earl of Macclesfield, in search of the finest and most faithful copies after the Antique for the sculpture gallery then being established at Shirburn Castle (Oxfordshire), which he had acquired in 1716. Parker was accompanied by his tutor, Edward Wright, whose notes, published in 1730 and again in 1764, recount the remarkable discoveries made during their journey and describe in detail the circumstances in which the present busts were eventually acquired by Lord Macclesfield.
In his notes, the tutor dwells on the description of the Uffizi and conveys the impact made upon visitors by the masterpieces of the Medici collections, assembled in the ‘glorious octagonal Room called the Tribuna, which looks like a little Temple inhabited by Goddesses’ (Wright, op. cit., p. 405). George initially commissioned two life-size bronzes after the Medici Venus and the Dancing Faun, the jewels of this sanctuary to the glory of the Ancients (inv. 1914, nos. 224 and 220). Between 1695 and 1702, Soldani had already successfully undertaken the casting of the first life-size examples after these models, a remarkable technical achievement at the time, which were promptly acquired by Johann Adam Andreas I, Prince of Liechtenstein (inv. nos. SK 537 and SK 541).
Lord Parker seems, however, to have been unaware of the precedents in the Liechtenstein collection. According to Wright, he was instead impressed by other examples produced in Soldani’s workshop, around 1709, for the gallery of the Duke of Marlborough at Blenheim: ‘These four capital statues [the Medici Venus, the Dancing Faun, the Arrotino and the group of the Wrestlers] were cast in copper (sic), exceeding well, by Signor Soldani, for the Duke of Marlborough, and are now at Blenheim’ (ibid., p. 412). The dazzling reflections of the rich translucent patina, characteristic of Florentine bronzes, which Soldani mastered to perfection, enhance the naturally orange-golden tones of the copper alloy and may here account for the author’s confusion.
Pietro Cipriani was entrusted with the execution of this prestigious commission, certainly on Soldani’s recommendation, as the latter was then occupied with the funerary monument of Fra Marcantonio Zondadari, Grand Master of the Order of St John of Malta. The two Florentine sculptors knew each other well, since the former was the latter’s principal collaborator, under whom he had acquired considerable experience. From the early 1720s, Cipriani began to establish his independence from his master and attracted a clientele of milordi, the Italian term used for British aristocrats undertaking the Grand Tour, among them Horace Walpole.
In his notes, Wright stresses the established reputation of the sculptor under consideration: ‘When my Lord Parker was at Florence, and greatly delighted with these statues, Signor Pietro Cipriani, an excellent artist, and formerly a scholar of Soldani, and his assistant in casting those statues for the Duke of Marlborough, undertook to make for him copies in copper of the Venus and the Faun, which he engaged should at least equal Soldani’s, and be the most exact that ever were made’ (ibid., p. 412). Thus, Cipriani offered the double advantage of having already become familiar with the two antique marbles during the production of the Marlborough examples, for which he had assisted Soldani, and of having access to the moulds for the latter, since they belonged to his master.
The sculptor proved fully equal to his promises; his two outstanding bronzes, which remained at Shirburn Castle until 2005 (Christie’s, London, 1 December 2005, lot 64), are now in the J. Paul Getty Museum (inv. nos. 2008.41.1 and 2008.41.2).
The particular case of...
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Time, Location
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