GILT BRONZE PAX BOARD. POSSIBLY ROME, LAST THIRD 16TH CENTURY-FIRST THIRD 17TH CENTURY, AFTER MICHELANGELO BUONARROTI.
Antiques -
Reference: ZF1166
Peace-bearer, Pietà. Gilded bronze. Possibly Rome, last third of the 16th century-first quarter of the 17th century, following the model of Michelangelo Buonarroti. Gilt bronze plaque with an S-shaped handle on the back attached to an L-shaped piece decorated with plant elements, which has reliefs on the front. The architectural frame has two curved pediments as a finishing touch between which God the Father appears blessing, a series of motifs around the central theme and a flat base with fine mouldings on which a winged angel's head appears. This central motif is an image of the Virgin Mary with the dead Christ supported by two angels, which closely follows a drawing attributed to Michelangelo Buonarrotti dated between 1538 and 1544 and preserved in Boston (Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum). It should be remembered that, by the mid-sixteenth century, Michelangelo's Pietà to which we refer was widely known thanks to drawings, reliefs, engravings, etc. There is also evidence of a bronze peace-bearer made with this image (the one preserved in the Basilica della Santa Casa in Loreto is considered to be the only known example dated 1586), which gave rise to a notable production in Rome at the end of the 16th century, full of prominent foundries among which Jacopo (who worked with Michelangelo) and Ludovico Duca would stand out, linked to some of these peace-bearers. It is also worth noting the similarity of the architectural composition of this piece with the entrance to the façade of the church of Santa Maria di Trivio in Rome, a work by Jacopo del Duca carried out between 1573 and 1575. Compare this piece with the gilt bronze peace-bearer in the Bernard d'Agesci Museum in Niort, France (inventory 914.1.94), with another associated with the circle of Stefano Maderno preserved in a private collection (different handle to this one), with the aforementioned one from Loreto and with another, with openwork exterior decorative elements, also in a private Italian collection.
· Size: 11x5x17 cms.
2.200 €
