Andiron with the Figure of Jupiter

These andirons are made of three separately cast sections. One is surmounted by Juno with her peacock (1975.1.1405); the other with Jupiter and his eagle (1975.1.1406). At least two pairs of firedogs with different bases but identical figures on top seem to exist — one formerly in the collection of Donà dalle Rose at the Villa Garzoni at Pontecasale,(1) the other in the former collection of Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé.(2) The Frick Collection, New York, houses a pair of bronzes of which only the female figure resembles the Juno.(3) In 1934 and 1937, Robert Lehman was offered the pair of andirons formerly in the Donà dalle Rose and Sala collections by art dealer Arnold Seligmann, but he did not acquire them.(4) The association of those andirons with Alessandro Vittoria dates from 1930.(5) It was also published in the 1933 Sala sale catalogue and confirmed by Planiscig, according to a 1934 letter from Paul Byk of Arnold Seligmann to Robert Lehman: “Planiscig actually here gave marvelous letter for them definitely attributed to Alessandro Vittoria.”(6) Whereas this association can no longer be justified, it remains clear that the two figures echo the style of that sculptor, but were made at least one generation later. Although no identical bases have been found, separate motifs of the Lehman firedogs can be traced to various other Venetian works from the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. The same seated putti, for instance, adorned a pair of firedogs formerly in the Kunstgewerbemuseum, Berlin (lost since World War II) and originally from the collection of Frederick the Great of Prussia,(7) whereas comparable masks with surrounding garlands were included in a pair in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, signed by Giuseppe de Levis from Verona,(8) and in a pair attributed to Campagna in the Vok collection.(9) However, the two female masks with their pronounced, half-closed eyes, straight noses, and protruding chins are close to the facial types of Roccatagliata.(10) Similar seated putti and termlike putti also can be found in Roccatagliata’s repertoire.(11)

Catalogue entry from: Frits Scholten. The Robert Lehman Collection. European Sculpture and Metalwork, Vol. XII. Frits Scholten, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art in association with Princeton University Press, 2011, pp. 190-191.

Notes:
1. Planiscig, Leo. Piccoli bronzi italiani del Rinascimento. Milan, 1930, figs. 276, 277; later in the collection of Countess Sala (formerly Mrs. Edwin S. Bayer of New York); Sala sale, 19 May 1933, Galerie Charpentier, Paris, lot 55.
2. Sale, Christie’s, Paris, 17 – 20 November 2009, part ii, lot 282 (as Venetian aftercasts from the late eighteenth century).
3. Maclagan, Eric and Osbert Sitwell. The Frick Collection. Vols. 5 and 6, Sculpture of the Renaissance and Later Periods. New York, 1954, vol. 6, nos. 46, 47.
4. Paul M. Byk of Arnold Seligmann, Rey & Company, Paris and New York, to Robert Lehman, 19 November 1934 and 8 February 1937 (Robert Lehman Papers).
5. Planiscig, 1930, figs. 276, 277.
6. Sale, Sala collection, 19 May 1933, Galerie Charpentier, Paris, lot 55; letter dated 19 November 1934 (Robert Lehman Papers). Planiscig’s attribution of the andirons to Vittoria was mentioned again by Byk in a letter to Robert Lehman of 8 February 1937 (Robert Lehman Papers).
7. Weihrauch, Hans R. Europäische Bronzestatuetten, 15. – 18. Jahrhundert. Braunschweig, 1967, figs. 176, 177; Bronzetti Veneziani: Die Venezianischen Kleinbronzen der Renaissance aus dem Bode-Museum Berlin. Exhibition, Georg-Kolbe-Museum, 26 October 2003 – 11 January 2004; Kunsthistorisches Museum; Ca’ d’Oro. Catalogue by Volker Krahn. Berlin and Cologne, 2003, pp. 4, 5, and figs. 2, 3.
8. Motture, Peta. "The Production of Firedogs in Renaissance Venice." In Large Bronzes in the Renaissance, edited by Peta Motture, pp. 277 – 307. Studies in the History of Art (National Gallery of Art) 64. Washington, D.C., 2003, fig. 1.
9. Bronzi del Rinascimento: Collezione Vok. Exhibition, Museo Civico, Padua, 20 November 2004 – 6 February 2005. Catalogue by Davide Banzato. N.p. [Italy], 2004, nos. 23, 24.
10. See his documented Saint Stephen, Saint George, and the signed Madonna and Child (Kryza-Gersch, Claudia. "New Light on Nicolò Roccatagliata and His Son Sebastian Nicolini." Nuovi studi 5, 1998, fig. 196; Kryza-Gersch in "La bellissima maniera": Alessandro Vittoria e la scultura veneta del Cinquecento. Exhibition, Castello del Buonconsiglio, 25 June – 26 September 1999. Catalogue edited by Andrea Bacchi, Lia Camerlengo, and Manfred Leithe-Jasper. Trent, 1999, nos. 100 – 102) and an andiron in Florence (Planiscig, Leo. Venezianische Bildhauer der Renaissance. Vienna, 1921, fig. 666).
11. See Planiscig 1921, figs. 680, 684; Kryza-Gersch 1998, fig. 194; "La bellissima maniera": Alessandro Vittoria e la scultura veneta del Cinquecento. Exhibition, Castello del Buonconsiglio, 25 June – 26 September 1999. Catalogue edited by Andrea Bacchi, Lia Camerlengo, and Manfred Leithe-Jasper. Trent, 1999, no. 104 and p. 440, fig. 1.

Robert Lehman, New York