Workshop of Barthélemy Prieur (1536-1611)
Workshop of Barthélemy Prieur (1536-1611)
Thorn-shooter or Venus wounded by a rose
thorn Bronze with brown patina.
H. 9.1 cm
The subject of our bronze, like the work attributed to Barthélémy Prieur (1536-1611) kept in Washington,
is identified as a Woman cutting her nails. It draws its iconography from an episode of the loves of
Venus and Adonis reported by Lycophron and Aphthonius. Venus, while running to the rescue of her beautiful and mortal lover,
wounded by a boar during a hunt, wounds herself with the thorns of a white rosebush. His blood then flows over the flowers
and colours them a beautiful shade of vermilion.
The iconography of the origin of the rose seems to develop in the 15th and 16th centuries in the artistic and
literary circles of the Renaissance following the example of the poet Clement Marot (1497-1544):
One day Venus his Adonis followed
Among garden full of thorns and branches,
The feet are bare and the two arms without sleeves,
Whose thorn of a rosebush mischief him;
Or were at the time all white roses,
But his blood of vermeilles in fact.
The attitude of this bronze probably derives from the iconographic model created by Raphael in a painting
for Cardinal Bibienna. Many engravings, including that of Marco Dente da Ravenna (Italy, c. 1486-1527), have
disseminated this representation. In this engraving we see the goddess sitting on a drapery, her left leg brought back towards
her, her right leg resting on the ground. With her two hands, she tries to remove a rose thorn from her left foot under which a rose is found. Our bronze takes up, with slight variations, the delicacy of this image and the attitude of the
goddess.
Barthélémy Prieur proposes a variation on this mythological subject. Based on Raphael's model, he creates a
work with a more anecdotal theme, that of a woman cutting her nails. If in this bronze, the tool with which
she cuts her nails is not clearly visible, another cast in the Kunsthistoriches Museum in
Vienna makes it easier to see.
Related works: Marco Dente da Ravenna (Italy, c. 1486-1527) after Raphael (Italy, 1483-1520), Venus
wounded by a rose thorn, c. 1516, engraving, The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1930.581 - Barthélémy Prieur, (1536-1611), Woman cutting her nails, early 17th century, bronze with brown patina, traces of gilding on the drapery, Washington, The National Gallery of Art, 1957.14.24 - Barthélémy Prieur, (1536-1611), Woman cutting her nails, ca. 1590, bronze, 11 x 6 x 7 cm, Oberlin, Ohio, Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, 1954.22 - A thorn-shooter or Venus, 17th century, ivory, 64 x 54 cm, Paris, Musée du Louvre, OA95 - Italy (1500-1550), Venus wounded by a rose thorn, oil on canvas, 97.7 x 71.8 cm, Boston, Isabelle Stewart Gardner Museum, inv. no. P26w3.
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Workshop of Barthélemy Prieur (1536-1611)
Thorn-shooter or Venus wounded by a rose
thorn Bronze with brown patina.
H. 9.1 cm
The subject of our bronze, like the work attributed to Barthélémy Prieur (1536-1611) kept in Washington,
is identified as a Woman cutting her nails. It draws its iconography from an episode of the loves of
Venus and Adonis reported by Lycophron and Aphthonius. Venus, while running to the rescue of her beautiful and mortal lover,
wounded by a boar during a hunt, wounds herself with the thorns of a white rosebush. His blood then flows over the flowers
and colours them a beautiful shade of vermilion.
The iconography of the origin of the rose seems to develop in the 15th and 16th centuries in the artistic and
literary circles of the Renaissance following the example of the poet Clement Marot (1497-1544):
One day Venus his Adonis followed
Among garden full of thorns and branches,
The feet are bare and the two arms without sleeves,
Whose thorn of a rosebush mischief him;
Or were at the time all white roses,
But his blood of vermeilles in fact.
The attitude of this bronze probably derives from the iconographic model created by Raphael in a painting
for Cardinal Bibienna. Many engravings, including that of Marco Dente da Ravenna (Italy, c. 1486-1527), have
disseminated this representation. In this engraving we see the goddess sitting on a drapery, her left leg brought back towards
her, her right leg resting on the ground. With her two hands, she tries to remove a rose thorn from her left foot under which a rose is found. Our bronze takes up, with slight variations, the delicacy of this image and the attitude of the
goddess.
Barthélémy Prieur proposes a variation on this mythological subject. Based on Raphael's model, he creates a
work with a more anecdotal theme, that of a woman cutting her nails. If in this bronze, the tool with which
she cuts her nails is not clearly visible, another cast in the Kunsthistoriches Museum in
Vienna makes it easier to see.
Related works: Marco Dente da Ravenna (Italy, c. 1486-1527) after Raphael (Italy, 1483-1520), Venus
wounded by a rose thorn, c. 1516, engraving, The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1930.581 - Barthélémy Prieur, (1536-1611), Woman cutting her nails, early 17th century, bronze with brown patina, traces of gilding on the drapery, Washington, The National Gallery of Art, 1957.14.24 - Barthélémy Prieur, (1536-1611), Woman cutting her nails, ca. 1590, bronze, 11 x 6 x 7 cm, Oberlin, Ohio, Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, 1954.22 - A thorn-shooter or Venus, 17th century, ivory, 64 x 54 cm, Paris, Musée du Louvre, OA95 - Italy (1500-1550), Venus wounded by a rose thorn, oil on canvas, 97.7 x 71.8 cm, Boston, Isabelle Stewart Gardner Museum, inv. no. P26w3.
Automatically translated by DeepL. To see the original version, click here.
Estimate
Time, Location
Auction House
