Lot 111: Ferdinando Tacca (1619-1686) Italian, Florence, circa 1650 , A bronze rearing Stallion

deep brown patina with some areas of black lacquer

measurements note 19cm., 7 1/2 in.

This bronze rearing horse with a thick, vigorously windswept mane and tail is one of a series of horses attributed to the Florentine sculptor Ferdinando Tacca. Tacca was the son of Pietro Tacca, from whom he inherited the title of court sculptor to the Medici and director of the grand-ducal workshop. Ferdinando's sculpture is characterized by its dynamism and dramatic sense of movement.

The Rearing Stallion in the Museo di Palazzo Venezia, Rome (inv. no. 9293) was given by Katherine Watson to Ferdinando Tacca (1978 Giambologna catalogue) based on stylistic elements. Of the four extant models of the Rearing Stallion, each varies slightly in the articulation of veins and the strands of mane and tail. The present stallion is distinct in the leftward sweep of hair on the horse's forehead and delicately chiselled detail in the tail. Other versions of the model include those in the Robert H. Smith collection, the Bargello, Florence and one formerly in the Robert von Mendelssohn collection.

RELATED LITERATURE
C. Avery and A. Radcliffe, Giambologna 1529-1608. Sculptor to the Medici, exh. cat. (Edinburgh, London, Vienna, 1978) p. 183, nos. 165, entries by K. Watson; W. Bode, The Italian bronze statuettes of the Renaissance, (New York, reprint 1980), pl. CCII; A. Radcliffe and N. Penny, Art of the Renaissance Bronze: 1500-1650, The Robert H. Smith Collection (London, 2004) p. 269-71, no. 48