Circle of Luigi Valadier (1726-1785) | Italian, late 18th century, after the Antique | Apollo Belvedere

This large and impressive bronze of the famous Apollo Belvedere finds close parallels in facture and finish with a cast of the same subject by Luigi Valadier in the Louvre Museum (inv. MR 3280).

The original ancient marble takes its name from the Belvedere Courtyard in the Vatican where it was displayed from around 1503 and remains today, despite being taken to Paris in 1798 until Antonio Canova successfully negotiated the return in 1816 of the art treasures looted by Napoleon from Italy.

As one of the prime surviving Roman sculptures – described by Johann Winckelmann as ‘the most sublime of all the statues of antiquity’ – the Apollo Belvedere was copied by sculptors from the moment it was discovered, such as the bronzes by Antico in the late 15^th century, to the various foundries in Rome and Florence providing bronzes for the Grand Tourists. Luigi Valadier is known to have made casts in different sizes, for example the aforementioned (101 cm high) cast in the Louvre that was bought for Madame du Barry, paired with a bronze of the Callipygian Venus. The attention to detail in the simulation of the bark on the tree stump and the neat scales on the snake have clear affinities between the Madame du Barry cast and the present bronze. Particularly characteristic of late 18^th century Roman bronze casts, exemplified by the work of Luigi Valadier, is the crisp casting in the hair, which has the appearance of almost being chiseled out the bronze (in contrast to a waxier finish). Equally comparable is the clear delineation of the folds in the drapery.

The engraved monogram on the present bronze indicates that it comes from a distinguished, but as yet unidentified collection.

RELATED LITERATURE

F. Haskell and N. Penny, Taste and the Antique, New Haven and London, 1981, pp. 141-143;

A. Coliva and G. Leardi (eds.), Valadier. Splendour in Eighteenth-Century Rome, exh. cat., Galleria Borghese, Rome, 2019, pp. 304-305, cat. 47