AFTER A MODEL ATTRIBUTED TO ANDREA BRIOSCO, CALLED IL RICCIO | TRITON AND NEREID

Sotheby's, London, 3 December 1997 (according to gallery records; apparently not listed in catalogue)

Bertrand Jestaz, 'Desiderio da Firenze bronzier à padoue au XVIe siècle, ou le faussaire Riccio', Monuments et mémoires de la Fondation Eugène Piot, vol. 84, 2005, pp. 99-171, p. 153, n. 122 and p. 157

This intriguing model of a Triton, or Ichthyocentaur, surmounted by a Nereid, has long been associated with Andrea Riccio, the fabled bronze sculptor active in humanist Padua around 1500. The version now in the Bargello, Florence (inv. no. 353 B) is considered to be the prime surviving cast and has been tentatively attributed to Riccio's hand. At least eleven further casts are known, which are thought to have been made by Paduan followers of Riccio such as Desiderio da Firenze. They include versions in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (inv. no. A.91-1910, the Metropolitan Museum, New York (inv. no. 49.7.59a, b), and the Frick Collection, New York (inv. no. 1916.2.15).

RELATED LITERATURE

D. Allen and P. Motture, Andrea Riccio: Renaissance Master of Bronze, exh. cat. The Frick Collection, New York, 2009, cat. no. 2