Lot 63: f - FRANCESCO FANELLI (1577-AFTER 1641), ITALIAN, MID 17TH CENTURY A BRONZE GROUP OF ST. GEORGE

f - FRANCESCO FANELLI (1577-AFTER 1641), ITALIAN, MID 17TH CENTURY A BRONZE GROUP OF ST. GEORGE AND THE DRAGON

N/A

CATALOGUE NOTE

Fanelli is principally remembered today for his equestrian bronze statuettes. George Vertue wrote that he 'had a particular genius for these works and was much esteemd in K Charles I time - and afterwards'. Evidence of their wider popularity can be supposed from his statement that Fanelli sold them 'to persons that were Curious to sett [them] on Tables cupboards shelves by way of Ornament'. They were certainly instrumental in establishing the vogue for baroque sculpture in England.

Of all Fanelli's statuettes, the St. George and the Dragon is undoubtedly the best known, for not only was St. George the patron saint of Genoa, where Fanelli had lived and worked since 1605, but also of England, where he arrived in 1631 to work for Charles I. Abraham van der Doort's inventory of the king's collection in 1639 listed three of his statuettes in the Cabinet Room at Whitehall, of which item 28 is listed as 'a little S George on horseback with a dragon by'. Interestingly it was displayed beneath Raphael's painting of the same subject (now Washington N.G.), although Raphael's painting was not Fanelli's source. A more likely inspiration, judging from the analagous counter-twists of St. George's torso and that of the dragon's - as well as the similarity of their classical uniforms - is Ludovico Ciamberlano's 1601 engraving of St. Cresence Killing a Dragon.

Fanelli executed at least two basic variants of St. George & the Dragon. In the first version, as the present group records, he adapted his model of the Leaping Horse, identified by its extended hind legs and more pronounced twist of the head, and added the figure of St.George who holds the lance in both hands. Examples of this first, more spirited version, are in the V&A, Welbeck and the Royal Collection. In the other version of St. George, Fanelli uses a different basic model known as the Rearing Horse, with contracted hind legs and the rider shown holding the lance in one hand and the reins in the other. Examples of this second variant are in the Holburne Museum, Bath and formerly Sylvia Adams Collection (Bonhams 23 May 1996, lot 63).

While no two casts by Fanelli are ever the same, certain details of the present bronze are analagous with others. For example the stitching each side of the tunic is similar to that found on the Sylvia Adams cast and versions of St.George sold at Christie's on 8 December 1987, lot 161 and Sotheby's 8 July 1993, lot 59. The typical naturalised base with flat rim is the same as that found on the V&A cast (A.5-1953) and another with Michael Hall, NY (no.B60).

RELATED LITERATURE
G.Vertue, 'Notebooks (1713-1756)', IV, Walpole Society, vol.24 1936, p.110;
The Illustrated Bartsch, vol.44 (formerly vol.20, part 1), no.71-I (35);
J.Pope-Hennessy, Essays on Italian Sculpture, London 1968, pp.166-171

height: 19.7cm., 7 3/4 in. base plate: 16.2 by 10.1cm., 6 3/8 by 4in.