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Bacchanal   Massimiliano Soldani-Benzi (1656–1740)

Bacchanal

Massimiliano Soldani-Benzi (1656–1740)

1695-97

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Bacchanal

Massimiliano Soldani-Benzi created the present spectacularly elaborate relief in response to a request from Prince Johann Adam Andreas I von Liechtenstein for ‘qualche scherzo bacchanale’ (some kind of bacchanalian entertainment). In a letter of 11 December 1694, he informed the Prince that he had made a wax ‘modello’ for such a relief, and although this model was ‘in a thousand pieces’ by the time it reached Vienna, the Prince judged that it would make for ‘a very beautiful’ relief, and commissioned Soldani to go ahead and cast it in March 1695. The completed work was delivered two years later, in 1697, and the artist declared it to be one of the finest works produced in Florence in his time.
The drunken revels of Bacchus, the God of Wine, and his beloved Ariadne had been celebrated in both literature and art since classical antiquity, and had remained continuously in favour since the early renaissance. Soldani was therefore able to draw upon a considerable visual and literary tradition, and it has been pointed out that the elderly satyr at the left margin of the relief is copied from an anonymous masterpiece dating from the fifteenth century known as the ‘Martelli Mirror’ (Victoria and Albert Museum, London), but it also seems likely that he drew more general inspiration from Francesco Redi’s much admired and recently published poem, ‘Bacco in Toscana’ (Bacchus in Tuscany) of 1685. Certainly, the emphasis here is on narrative richness and complexity, allied to compositional confusion.
The present relief is one of Soldani’s most elaborately virtuoso performances, in which the sculptor displays all his prowess in the convincing rendering of the very different textures of nude flesh, sinuous draperies, and foliage. It should come as no surprise to learn that he referred to it as ‘a picture in bronze’.

Material/technique
Bronze with reddish-golden lacquer patina
Measurements
56 × 78 cm
Acquisition
acquired in 1697 by Prince Johann Adam Andreas I von Liechtenstein
Artists/makers/authors
Massimiliano Soldani-Benzi
Detailed information
Inventory number
SK 827
Provenance
acquired in 1697 by Prince Johann Adam Andreas I von Liechtenstein
Place of origin
Florence
Iconography
Procession of Bacchus/Bacchanal
Literature
Vincenzio Fanti, Descrizzione completa di tutto ciò che ritrovasi nella galleria di pittura e scultura di Sua Altezza Giuseppe Wenceslao del S.R.I. Principe Regnante della casa di Lichtenstein, Wien 1767, S. 82, Kat. 404

F. Wilhelm, Neue Quellen zur Geschichte des fürstlich Liechtensteinschen Kunstbesitzes, in: Jahrbuch des Kunsthistorischen Institutes der k.k. Zentralkommission für Denkmalpflege 5 1911, Beiblatt, S. 102ff.

Erika Tietze-Conrat, Die Bronzen der fürstlich Liechtensteinschen Kunstkammer, in: Jahrbuch des Kunsthistorischen Institutes der K.K. Zentral-Kommission für Denkmalpflege, Bd. XI/1917, S. 16–108, S. 70, 96, Nr. 404, Abb. S. 73, Nr. 56

Klaus Lankheit, Florentinische Barockplastik. Die Kunst am Hofe der letzten Medici 1670–1743, München 1962, S. 106, 128f., 375, Nr. 104, Dokum. 635ff.

Oskar Sandner, Ausst.-Kat. Meisterwerke der Plastik aus Privatsammlungen im Bodenseegebiet, Bregenz 1967, S. 75-76, Nr. 128, Abb. 88

J. Montagu, Ausst.-Kat. The Twilight of the Medici. Late Baroque Art in Florence 1670-1743, Detroit-Florenz 1974, S. 23 u. 28

Gustav Wilhelm, Die Fürsten von Liechtenstein und ihre Beziehungen zu Kunst und Wissenschaft, in: Liechtensteinische Kunstgesellschaft, Vaduz 1977, Bd. 1/1976, S. 9–180, S. 66f. u. 126

J. Montagu, Made for a Prince, in: Connaissance des arts, N.F. 13 1981, S. 33-36, mit Abb.

Olga Raggio, Ausst.-Kat. Liechtenstein. The Princely Collections, New York 1985, S. 88-90, Kat. 54

Olga Raggio, Ausst.-Kat. Die Bronzen der Fürstlichen Sammlung Liechtenstein, Frankfurt 1986, S. 206-209, Kat. 35

Giovanni Pratesi, Repertorio della Scultura Fiorentina del Seicento e Settecento, Bd. III, Torino 1993, S. Abb. 552

Volker Krahn, Ausst.-Kat. Fünf Jahrhunderte italienische Kunst aus den Sammlungen des Fürsten von Liechtenstein, Vaduz 1994, S. 136-137 u. 161, Kat. 61

Ausst.-Kat. "Götter wandelten einst..." Antiker Mythos im Spiegel alter Meister aus den Sammlungen des Fürsten von Liechtenstein, Uwe Wieczorek, Liechtensteinische Staatliche Kunstsammlung (Hg.), Liechtensteinische Staatliche Kunstsammlung, Vaduz 11.9.1998, erschienen Bern 1998, S. 126-128, 150, 172-173, 126, 127 (Detailabb.), Kat. 53

Johann Kräftner, Andrea Stockhammer, Liechtenstein Museum Wien. Le Collezioni, München 2004, S. 298, Abb. S. 274-276, Kat. VII.24

Johann Kräftner, Andrea Stockhammer, Liechtenstein Museum Vienna. The Collections, Johann Kräftner (Hg.), München–Berlin–London–New York 2004, S. 298, Abb. S. 274-276, Kat. VII.24

Johann Kräftner, Andrea Stockhammer, Liechtenstein Museum Wien. Die Sammlungen, Johann Kräftner (Hg.), München–Berlin–London–New York 2004, S. 298, Abb. S. 274-276, Kat. VII.24

Ausst.-Kat. Das Werden eines Landes. 1712–2012, Rainer Vollkommer (Hg.), Liechtensteinisches Landesmuseum, Vaduz 5.4.2012–14.10.2012, erschienen Vaduz 2012, Abb. 362, Kat. 320

Carina A. E. Weißmann, Die Bronzen des Massimiliano Soldani Benzi (1656–1740). Repräsentationsstrategien des europäischen Adels um 1700 (Sammler, Sammlungen, Sammlungskulturen in Wien und Mitteleuropa/Forschungen aus dem Vienna Center for the History of Collecting), Sebastian Schütze (Hg.), Bd. 3, Berlin–Boston 2022, S. 284–287, Kat.-Nr. 3.1

Ausst.-Kat. Gegossen für die Ewigkeit. Die Bronzen der Fürsten von Liechtenstein. Eine Ausstellung in der Reihe MÄRZ IM PALAIS im Gartenpalais Liechtenstein, Alexandra Hanzl, Johann Kräftner, Katharina Leithner, Arthur Stögmann, Johann Kräftner (Hg.), Gartenpalais Liechtenstein, Wien 1.–31.3.2023, erschienen Wien 2023, S. 252–253, Kat.-Nr. 112

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