Lot 423: ATTRIBUTED TO TIZIANO ASPETTI

APOSTLES PETER AND PAUL

heights 35 7/8 in., 35 1/2 in.; 91 cm, 90 cm

a pair, bronze

<P>circa 1600</P>

Duveen 1938, vol.II

Baron Maurice de Rothschild, Paris; Mrs. Anna Thomson Dodge, Rose Terrace, Grosse Point Farms, Michigan; Sold Christie's, London, June 24, 1971, lot 4; Cyril Humphris, London

RELATED LITERATURE

Benacchio 1930-1939; Venturi 1937, pp.280-311; Kryza-Gersch 1999; Pincus 2001, pp. 142-157; Ceriana and Avery 2008, pp. 253-272

These grand and beautifully modeled figures have been variously ascribed to Alessandro Vittoria (1525-1608) and Girolamo Campagna (1549-1625), the latter based on similarities with Campagna's altar saints in S. Giacomo al Rialto in Venice and with the statues on the balustrade in S. Giorgio in Braida, Verona. The lively poses, exaggerated gestures, and soft drapery style, however, clearly point to the authorship of their Venetian contemporary Tiziano Aspetti. Aspetti probably apprenticed with Campagna and would have developed the foundation of his classical style under his influence; when Aspetti began his career in Venice in the 1590s, Vittoria had virtually stopped working and Campagna monopolized the major sculptural commissions. By 1593, however, Aspetti had defeated Campagna in the competition for the altar of S. Anthony in the Santo in Padua.

The over life-size figures of Justice (fig. 1) and Temperance in the Grimani Chapel in S. Francesco della Vigna, Venice, Aspetti's first attempts in bronze, were begun before 28 November 1592. Aspetti subsequently made the statues of Moses (fig. 2) and Saint Paul for the façade of the church. The drapery on these monumental bronzes, with V-shaped folds, an impractical and often playful way manner in which the hands grasp implements, and the slight torsion of the bodies are all manifest in the present bronze Apostles. Aspetti paid particular attention to the hands of his figures, which have long and slender fingers with meticulously manicured nails, usually featuring a slightly bent forefinger (Kryza-Gersch 2001, op.cit., p.148). This detail is visible in the right hand of his figure of Justice (1592/93) (fig.1) and in both of the present bronzes.

In recent communication, Kryza-Gersch has expressed no doubt that the present figures of Peter and Paul were modeled by Aspetti. He did not employ a proper workshop but seems to have contracted craftsmen for specific purposes, such as casting and finishing. While we do not have the original models with which to compare the present pair, these bronzes display a sense of freedom in the modeling and distinctive details which are unmistakably products of Aspetti's conception.

These two bronze figures of Peter and Paul probably stood high on an altar or balustrade, perhaps together with figures of the remaining ten Apostles (though pairs of saints were also popular around 1600). A pair of statues from Roccatagliata's workshop of Saints Peter and Anthony in the Chiesa di Miracoli in Venice (Kryza-Gersch 1998, op.cit.,figs. 229 and 230) are of similar size. Another pair of figures by Alessandro Vittoria, in the Basilica dei SS. Giovanni e Paolo, depict the Mater Dolorosa and St. John the Evangelist and are 10 to 20 cm. taller than the present pair (Kryza-Gersch 1999, op.cit., no.80).

Aspetti's first commission for the Santo in Padua, two bronze reliefs of the Martyrdom of Saint Daniel, were delivered in February of 1593. These scenes show a variety relief styles and an array of emotions, poses and textures. Due to their success, Aspetti received a highly prestigious and lucrative commission to design a new marble altar in the chapel of St. Anthony in the Santo and to adorn it with a large number of bronze statues including three saints, Saint Anthony, Saint Bonaventure and Saint Louis of Toulouse and four Virtues, Faith, Charity, Temperance and Hope. The Virtues were set in the choir in 1597 and are on the balustrade of the high altar. This was the last great ensemble commissioned by the Santo, after Donatello's high altar (completed 1450). The half life-size Virtues, with their small heads, elongated bodies, elegant drapery and distinctive hands (see Hope fig. 3), summarize Aspetti's figural style in that period. Furthermore, in the engraved design on the book held by Peter and on the diadem in the figure of Charity (1593/94) in the Santo (measuring 100 cm only 10 cm larger than the present figures) Aspetti employs the same type of linear decoration.

A pair of silver figures of Saints Peter and Paul (circa 1593/94) in the Boymans-van-Beuningen Museum, Rotterdam, previously ascribed to Vittoria, are now also given to Aspetti (Padua 2001, op.cit., no. 92). Raggio questioned the earlier attribution and proposed Aspetti, recalling the drapery, engraved details, and stances of his Virtues. Raggio also noted that these silver figures could be those referred to in a letter by the sculptor to Laura Gonzaga, duchess of Mantua.

Aspetti was a sculptor who returned to marble late in life, at an age when many sculptors forsake the physical strain of large-scale stone carving. We know him first and foremost as a designer of grand and powerful figures, and his focus on overall sculptural effect is manifest in the present bronzes.