Francesco Fanelli (1580-1670) | Anglo-Italian, circa 1640 | A Turkish Horseman attacked by a Lion

H. R. Weihrauch, Europäische Bronzestatuetten. 16.-18. Jahrhundert, Braunschweig, 1967, pp. 236-7, fig. 286

It is in fine casts such as this bronze Turkish Horseman attacked by a Lion that Francesco Fanelli's sculptural talent is best illustrated: even on this minimal scale, the horseman's hunt is captured at its most dramatic moment, with all elements clearly revolving around the lion's crushing bite.

George Vertue's account of the collection at Welbeck lists among the bronzes purchased by the Duke of Newcastles from Fanelli ‘a Turk on horseback’, establishing the model with certainty as the sculptor’s. Vertue notes the typical black lacquer finish which also adorns the present bronze. Equestrian subjects represent the majority of Fanelli's known oeuvre, which includes Cupid on horseback and Saint George and the Dragon, a model with which the Turkish Horseman is sometimes paired (see casts at the V&A Museum, inv. nos. A.5-1953 and A.4-1953). Pope-Hennessy (op. cit.) has proposed that the patronage of the Duke of Newcastle, a keen horseman, may have been responsible for this thematic preoccupation. The present cast of the Turkish Horseman appears to be that illustrated in Weihrauch op. cit., while another was sold in these rooms on 9 July 2009 (lot 109).

Florentine by birth, Francesco Fanelli worked in England between about 1610 and 1645, where he specialized in small bronzes under the patronage of Charles I.

RELATED LITERATURE
J. Pope-Hennessy, 'Some bronze statuettes by Francesco Fanelli', in Essays on Italian Sculpture, London, 1968, pp. 166-71, fig. 192