Venetian School, 18th Century

The Marucelli Collection (sold: Langford & Son, London, March 21-23, 1764, lot 37, included in the sale of the collection of the antiquary Baron Stosch, together with further bronzes from the Gaddi and the Marucelli Palaces in Florence)
Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham (1730-1782)
Earl Fitzwilliam, Wentworth Woodhouse
Olive Dorothea Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, Countess Fitzwilliam (1911-1975)
Sale: Christies, London, May 15, 1984, lot 151 (illus. catalogue cover)
Sale: The Cyril Humphris Collection, Sotheby's, New York, January 10, 1995, lot 27
Acquired at the above sale by A. Alfred Taubman

Malcolm Baker, "Giambologna, Donatello and the Sale of the Gaddi, Marucelli and Stosch Bronze"', Städel-Jahrbuch, Munich, 1989, vol. XII, pp. 179-188, fig. 4, p. 193, n. 62
Charles Avery, The Triumph in Motion: Francesco Bertos (1678-1741) and the Art of Sculpture, Turin, 2008, p. 62, figs. 54A-B

Made in two sections. Small losses, surface abrasions, and dents consistent with age. Old casting flaws (same with soldering). Losses to snails antennai, seated putti's implements, and one of Vulcan's tools. Old repaired casting flaws to lower legs and some arms of standing fauns, Surface with reddish metallic varnish beneath dark brown lacquer. Very decorative and well done.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

This impressive and elaborately cast bronze oil lamp with stand, known since 1764 when it was acquired at auction at the sale of bronzes from the Marucelli collection of Rome, has since belonged to an illustrious group of connoisseurs. The bronze was a part of the collection of Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham, (1730-1782), who was twice Prime Minister under George III, and who established Wentworth Woodhouse, his majestic family home, as an important Whig powerhouse. Later in the 18th century, his estates were inherited by the Earls Fitzwilliam and this bronze passed to the wife of the 8th Earl, Olive Dorothea Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, Countess Fitzwilliam.

Variously attributed to the Florentine and Venetian schools and dated from the 16^th to the 17^th centuries by scholars, the intricate configuration of specific elements seen here are hallmarks of north Italian and specifically Venetian bronze manufacture. The three-dimensional volutes forming the triangular base, as well as the supporting putti interspersed with masks issuing drapery swags, are close in spirit to those on an inkstand surmounted with a figure of Hope that has been associated with the sixteenth century Venetian sculptor Tiziano Aspetti, an example of which is in the Victoria and Albert Museum (no. 5908-1859). The style of the curly-haired putti and their seated position with upheld arms is also repeated in other examples of Venetian Renaissance bronzes, including a pair of altar candlesticks from the Thyssen-Bornemisza collection (see Related Literature, below, no. 42). The snail feet upon which the bronze rests recall the Paduan tradition of life-casting small creatures. The caryatids are also reminiscent of Paduan bronzes but their facial and body types are distinctly Rococo and similar to the work of the Venetian eighteenth century sculptor Francesco Bertos. Avery (op. cit., p. 60), in fact, notes that Bertos adhered to the Paduan school tradition of bronze design and while he worked a century later than Aspetti, he could be regarded as a follower of the sixteenth century Venetian master who often signed his work proudly as a native Paduan.

A lamp without a stand, much like the upper portion of the present lamp, is in the Victoria and Albert Museum (N. 61/1952) and was purchased 1859 from the museum of the Collegio Romano in Rome. It is described by Draper (op. cit., pl. CLXII) as Venetian, circa 1555 and was engraved by the Paduan Antiquarian Licetus. Another variant of these lamps, with a similar figure of Vulcan pumping bellows, mounted on an incongruous stand, is in the Untermyer Collection in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and is now dated to the nineteenth century. Comparison with the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s bronze emphasizes the distinct blend of sixteenth and eighteenth century elements as well as the sharper and more detailed surface treatment of the present cast. These details, along with rococo masks and figures, and the overall impressive design of this lamp, would have been appealing to eighteenth century taste. The demand for similar bronzes was apparent from what we know of purchases by visitors of the Grand Tour in Italy during that period.

Malcolm Baker illustrates the present lamp (op. cit., p. 180, fig. 4) in his discussion of antique and 'modern' bronzes from the Gaddi, Marucelli and Stosch collections. This sale by Langford in 1764 seems to have been the most extensive auction of bronzes in London in the eighteenth century. The formation of the Marucelli collection was primarily due to the seventeenth century collector Francesco Marucelli who patronized contemporary painters, supplied information to Baldinucci (among the most significant Florentine biographers/historians of the artists of the Baroque period) and assembled a substantial library at his home in Rome. After his death, the collection and library was brought to Florence, the latter being known as the Bibliotheca Marucelliana. The 1764 London auction clearly supplied the demand for bronzes witnessed by antique dealers in Italy. The sale provided another opportunity for British nobility and wealthy landed gentry, who had either forewent the Grand Tour or had experienced it, to continue to build their formidable collections.

RELATED LITERATURE:
Fortunius Licetus, De Lucernis Antiquorum Reconditis libb sex, VI, Cap XXIV, fig. 2
Montfaucon, L'Antiquité Expliquée, 1722, vol. V, pt. 2, pl. CL
Wilhelm Bode, 'Italian Bronze Statuettes of the Renaissance' (ed. and rev. J.D. Draper), New York, 1980, p. 58, pls. CLIX, CLXXIL 
Leo Planiscig, Venezianische Bildhauer, Vienna 1921, p. 570 ff
Selwyn Brinton, "Sir John Martin-Harvey's Bronzes", Connoisseur, 1933, p. 308-313
Yvonne Hackenbroch, Bronzes and Other Metalwork and Sculpture in the Irwin Untermyer Collection, London, 1962, p. 21, figs. 67 and 68, pls. 64 and 65
The Genius of Venice (exhibition catalogue), Royal Academy, London, 1983, cat. no. S1-2
Anthony Radcliffe, Malcolm Baker and Michael Maek Gerard, The Thyssen Bornemisza Collection, Renaissance and later Sculpture, London, 1992