 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Copyright © 2008 AncientSculptureGallery.com. All rights reserved.
Lost Wax Bronze and Cold Cast Bronze of Giovanni Bologna's Flying Mercury
statue sculpture
Museum: Metropolitan Museum of Art
Date: 16th century
Period: Revival
The son of Jupiter and the messenger of the gods, Mercury was worshipped in Roman times as the
god of traders and merchants, and his popularity spread with the extension of Roman power,
influence, and trade. Giovanni Bologna (1529–1608), a Flemish artist working in the Medici court of
the Grand Duke Cosimo I in Florence, created four distinctly different bronze sculptures of Mercury,
each version more refined than the preceding one. Composing his subject in the figura serpentine,
or, ascending corkscrew arrangement, Bologna forces the viewer’s eye to travel both over and around
the sculpture. The Museum’s Mercury statue reproduces one of Bologna’s later models, in which
form and attitude combine to achieve a lightness and grace of movement that seems to defy gravity.
Mercury is depicted with the typical winged feet, gliding through space. In his left hand is the
caduceus, a wand carried by ancient Greek heralds as a symbol of immunity during war, a form of
two snakes intertwined about an olive branch that is capped by wings. The Museum's reproduction is
made from a mold of the original statue Flying Mercury created by Giovanni Bologna.
Item No. S117
Bonded bronze, hand patinated: height including base 14 3/4 in.; base width 3 1/2 in., base length 3
1/2 in.
$600.00
statue sculpture
Museum: Metropolitan Museum of Art
Date: 16th century
Period: Revival
The son of Jupiter and the messenger of the gods, Mercury was worshipped in Roman times as the
god of traders and merchants, and his popularity spread with the extension of Roman power,
influence, and trade. Giovanni Bologna (1529–1608), a Flemish artist working in the Medici court of
the Grand Duke Cosimo I in Florence, created four distinctly different bronze sculptures of Mercury,
each version more refined than the preceding one. Composing his subject in the figura serpentine,
or, ascending corkscrew arrangement, Bologna forces the viewer’s eye to travel both over and around
the sculpture. The Museum’s Mercury statue reproduces one of Bologna’s later models, in which
form and attitude combine to achieve a lightness and grace of movement that seems to defy gravity.
Mercury is depicted with the typical winged feet, gliding through space. In his left hand is the
caduceus, a wand carried by ancient Greek heralds as a symbol of immunity during war, a form of
two snakes intertwined about an olive branch that is capped by wings. The Museum's reproduction is
made from a mold of the original statue Flying Mercury created by Giovanni Bologna.
Item No. S117
Bonded bronze, hand patinated: height including base 14 3/4 in.; base width 3 1/2 in., base length 3
1/2 in.
$600.00
100% Bronze: height including base 17 1/2 in.; base width 3 in., base length 3 in.
$3,995.00
$3,995.00