Marsyas or St Sebastian
Andrea Mantegna (1431–1506)
c. 1500
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Andrea Mantegna was one of the most important and exciting Italian artists of the fifteenth century, and without question the one most deeply in tune with the accomplishments of classical antiquity. A teenage prodigy in Padua, in 1460 he became the court artist of the ruling Gonzaga family in Mantua, where he remained based for the rest of his long career. He was one of the first Italian painters to explore the new possibilities of print-making, and may also have been a sculptor, although no work in the medium is securely by his hand.
The present piece, which is of spectacular quality and is certainly from the circle of Mantegna, has been attributed to him. One possibility is that he created the model and then had it cast by one of his associates such as Gian Marco Cavalli, who likewise worked for the Gonzaga court. Mantegna himself is recorded modelling bronze vessels at least once, in 1483. Regardless of who it is by, it was evidently known to Vittore Carpaccio, who included a figure directly based upon it at the lower left margin of his signed and dated altarpiece of 1515 in the Gallerie dell’Accademia in Venice, which represents the 'Crucifixion and Apotheosis of the 10,000 Martyrs of Mount Ararat'.
The bronze has been connected with a reference to an anonymous bronze of ‘a nude figure bound to a tree’ in the posthumous inventory of the collections of Mantegna’s patron Isabella d’Este, the Marchioness of Mantua, which was drawn up in 1542. The fact that the three perforations in the man’s body are not original means he was not necessarily initially intended to represent Saint Sebastian, the Roman legionary who was shot full of arrows for refusing to renounce his Christian faith, but who is never shown totally nude. If so, then the subject could originally have been the classical tale of Marsyas, a satyr (but not invariably represented as half-goat) who challenged Apollo to a music-contest, lost, and was subsequently flayed alive for his presumption. In any event, this bronze is strikingly impressive both for the energy and finesse of its surface, but also for the emotional power of the pain-wracked protagonist.
- Material/technique
- bronze, fire-gilt
- Measurements
- 34.6 × 16.0 × 10.0 cm, 40.5 cm with base
- Acquisition
- acquired in 2001 by Prince Hans-Adam II von und zu Liechtenstein
- Artists/makers/authors
- Andrea Mantegna
- Inventory number
- SK 18
- Provenance
- pre-1866 Louis-Félix, vicomte de Nolivos collection, Paris; 19/20 Jan. 1866 auction of the De Nolivos collection, Hotel Drouot, Paris, lot 56; Eugène Lecomte collection; 11-13 June 1906 Hotel Drouot, Paris, auction "Tableaux Modernes et Anciens ... composant la Collection de feu M. Eugène Lecomte", lot 145; 20th century collection Jean Cocteau (1889-1963); until 2001 art dealer Charles Ratton et Guy Ladrière, Paris; acquired in 2001 from Fine Art and Heritage Ltd, Jersey
- Iconography
- Marsyas , St. Sebastian
Ausst.-Kat. Mantegna 1431 - 1506, Giovanni Agosti, Dominique Thiébaut (Hg.), erschienen Paris 2008, S. 314-316, Abb. S. 315, Kat. 131
Jeremy Warren (Hg.), The Wallace Collection. Catalogue of Italian Sculpture, 2 Bde., London 2016, Bd. 1, S. 222, S. 269
R. Signorini - A. Radcliffe, "Una figura nuda legata a un tronco": Una Statuetta in Bronzo dorato qui attribuita ad Andrea Mantegna (I) A gilt bronze Statuette here attributed to Andrea Mantegna (II), in: Atti e Memorie, Bd. LXV, Mantua 1999, Abb. S. 48-104
Johann Kräftner, Andrea Stockhammer, Liechtenstein Museum Wien. Le Collezioni, München 2004, S. 133, Abb. S. 124 u. 126, Kat. IV.22
Johann Kräftner, Andrea Stockhammer, Liechtenstein Museum Vienna. The Collections, Johann Kräftner (Hg.), München–Berlin–London–New York 2004, S. 133, Abb. S. 124 u. 126, Kat. IV.22
Johann Kräftner, Andrea Stockhammer, Liechtenstein Museum Wien. Die Sammlungen, Johann Kräftner (Hg.), München–Berlin–London–New York 2004, S. 133, Abb. S. 124 u. 126, Kat. IV.22
Ausst.-Kat. I Principi e le Arti. Dipinti e sculture dalle Collezioni Liechtenstein, Johann Kräftner, Reinhold Baumstark, Maraike Bückling, Guy C. Bauman, Keith Christiansen, u.a., Lavinia M. Galli Michero (Hg.), Museo Poldi Pezzoli, Mailand 28.9.2006–17.12.2006, erschienen Mailand 2007, S. 56-57, 56 (Detailabb.), 57, Kat. 12
Ausst.-Kat. The Princes and the Arts. Paintings and Sculptures from the Liechtenstein Collections, Johann Kräftner, Reinhold Baumstark, Maraike Bückling, Guy C. Bauman, Keith Christiansen, Fernando Mazzoca u.a., Lavinia M. Galli Michero (Hg.), Museo Poldi Pezzoli, Milan 28.9.2006–17.12.2006, erschienen Milano 2007, S. 56-57, 56 (Detailabb.), 57, Kat. 13
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Ausst.-Kat. Der Fürst als Sammler. Neuerwerbungen unter Hans-Adam II. von und zu Liechtenstein, Johann Kräftner (Hg.), Liechtenstein Museum, Wien 12.2.2010–24.8.2010, erschienen Wien 2010, S. 76–77, Kat.-Nr. 26, Abb. S. 267
Ausst.-Kat. Masterworks from the Collections of the Prince of Liechtenstein, Johann Kräftner (Hg.), The National Art Center, Tokyo 3.10.2012–23.12.2012; The Museum of Art, Kochi 5.1.2013–7.3.2013; Municipal Museum of Art, Kyoto 19.3.2013–9.6.2013, erschienen Tokyo 2012
Ausst.-Kat. Princely Treasures from the House of Liechtenstein, National Museum of Singapore, Singapore 27.6.2013–29.9.2013, erschienen Singapore 2013, S. 178, Abb. 179, Kat. 75
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Ausst.-Kat. Menschenbilder – Götterwelten. The Worlds of Gods and Men, Johann Kräftner (Hg.), Dom Quartier Salzburg (Residenzgalerie Salzburg und Nordoratorium), Salzburg 30.7.–16.10.2016, erschienen Wien 2016, S. 284–285, Kat.-Nr. 68
Ausst.-Kat. Menschenbilder – Götterwelten. The Worlds of Gods and Men, Johann Kräftner (Hg.), Dom Quartier Salzburg (Residenzgalerie Salzburg und Nordoratorium), Salzburg 30.7.–16.10.2016, erschienen Wien 2016, S. 284–285, Kat.-Nr. 68
Johann Kräftner, Liechtenstein. The State, the Family, their Collection and Palaces. Aspects of the History of a European Dynasty, in: Ausst.-Kat.From Rubens to Makart. LIECHTENSTEIN. The Princely Collections, Klaus Albrecht Schröder (Hg.), Albertina, Wien 16.2.2019–10.6.2019, erschienen Köln 2019, S. 13–45, S. 22
Johann Kräftner, Between Old and New Worlds, in: Ausst.-Kat.A Jewel Box from Europe. Treasures from the collections of the Prince of LIECHTENSTEIN, TNC Procect (Hg.), Prefectural Art Museum, Hiroshima 18 September 2020–29 November 2020; The Bunkamura Museum of Art, Tokyo 12 October 2019–23 december 2019; Utsonimiya Museum of Art, Utsunomiya 12 January 2020–24 February 2020; Oita Prefectural Art Museum, Oita 6 March 2020–19 April 2020; Tokyo Fuji Art Museum, Tokyo 2 May 2020–5 July 2020; The Miyagi Museum of Art, Miyagi 14 July 2020–6 September 2020, erschienen Tokyo 2019, S. 14–27, S. 24, Abb. 22
Ausst.-Kat. Andrea Mantegna. Rivivere l'antico, costruire il moderno, Sandrina Bandera, Howard Burnes, Vincenzo Farinella (Hg.), Palazzo Madama, Torino 12.12.2019–4.5.2020, erschienen Venezia 2019, S. 186, Kat.-Nr. III.24
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. 54–55, Kat.-Nr. 11