GERMAN, 17TH CENTURY | LION ATTACKING A HORSE

The ancient marble group, from which this derives, is in the garden of the Palazzo dei Conservatori, Rome. Giambologna, followed by the Susini workshops, adapted the original marble and produced bronzes of the same subject, often paired with a group of a lion attacking a bull.

The present sculpture is a mirror image of Giambologna's composition, with a slight variation in the horse's legs which are splayed behind it. The brassy alloy, heavy cast, and the broad modelling suggest a Northern sculptor, probably German, who, like many of his fellow countrymen, probably travelled to Italy to work with the Florentine masters.

RELATED LITERATURE

Charles Avery and Anthony Radcliffe, eds, Giambologna. Sculptor to the Medici, exhibition catalogue, Edinburgh and London,1978, pp. 186-189