Lot 144: Attributed to Giuseppe Broccetti (1684-1733) Italian, Florence, circa 1725 , a stone group of the infant Hercules and the lion

measurements note 74cm., 29in.

In a letter dated 16 March 1725 from the Florentine singer Gaetano Berenstadt to Abbot Giovan Giacomo Zamboni refers to the existence of a pair of marbles by Giuseppe Broccetti representing "Ercole che sbrana un serpentaccio e l' altro quando ammazza il leone per le fauci". Considering that the first group mentioned refers to an episode in the infancy of Hercules, Sandro Bellesi has suggested that the second group would also have featured a young child as is the case in the present sculpture. Architect, medallist, stucco artist and sculptor Giuseppe Broccetti was born in 1684 on the island of Giglio off the coast of Tuscany. After initial training he was sent in the early 18th century to Florence to work in the workshop of Giovanni Battista Foggini. For stylistic comparison with the present group see his work in stucco in the Tempi Capello in Santa Verdiana at Castelfiorentino dating to 1716-17, in particular the representation of cherubs there, as illustrated by Spinelli and Pratesi; note the treatment to the face with rounded cheeks and small chin as well as the pudgy knees and well covered limbs of this young Hercules.

RELATED LITERATURE
Carteggio dell'abbate Giovan Giacomo Zamboni, Oxford, Bodleain Library, Ms Rowlinson, letter 130,cc 103 recto and verso, published by L. Lindgreen, "La carriera di Gaetano Berenstadt, contralto evirato(ca.1690-1735)" in Rivista Italiana di Musicologia, Vol XIX 1984, no.1.p. 71; R. Spinelli, " Ricognizione su Giuseppe Broccetti (1684-1733)" in Annali della Fondazione di Studi di Storia dell' Arte Roberto Longhi (1989) pp.101-23; G. Pratesi, Scultura Fiorentina del Seicento e Settecento (Turin 1993) figs. 30-2