After Giambologna

After “GIAMBOLOGNA”, JEAN DE BOLOGNE (Douai, Flanders, 1529 – Florence, 1608). Italy, 19th century.
"Mercury".
Bronze sculpture.
Marble base.
He has lost part of the caduceus.
Measurements: 84 cm. (total height with base).
The work, from the neoclassical period, follows the model of the original sculpture by the Renaissance artist Jean de Bologne, better known by the Italianized form of his name, “Giambologna”, today preserved in the Museo del Bargello in Florence. The version in question also presents a frieze on the base that did not exist in Flemish sculpture. The original piece, originally made in 1567, features the classical deity Mercury (Roman version of the Greek Hermes), the messenger of the gods. The artist has sought to translate the lightness and speed of the character through a posture of great audacity. The god defies the laws of gravity by barely resting on the tips of the toes of his left foot, which barely touches the base of the sculpture, made up of a male head exhaling a breath of air. This is the personification of the south wind, a figure also deified in classical mythology and an ally of Mercury in the spread of news, good and bad. Despite this small base, the artist managed to create a very balanced piece, where the gestures of the arms and legs are perfectly balanced to allow the bronze to stand without the need for added elements. Thus, the right arm rises towards the sky in an expressive gesture, while the left moves back and balances it, holding the emblem of the herald. With this work, overflowing with movement, grace, delicacy, where the artist also works admirably with the nude, some of the most outstanding contributions of the classical Italian Renaissance are summarized: the recovery of Antiquity, both in the themes as in the forms, the free-standing monumental sculpture or the nude, male and female. On the other hand, the search for movement, dynamism, even the instability of the figure, prelude some aspects of mannerism and the baroque currents of the late 16th and 17th centuries.