Italian, Florence, 18th century, After the Antique

In 1701 the Prince of Liechtenstein requested that the Florentine sculptor Massimiliano Soldani Benzi (1656-1740) send him twelve terracotta figures after the best classical and High-Renaissance sculptures in the Uffizi. In 1702, twelve wax bozzetti were sent off with a covering note to emphasize that although roughly finished, Soldani would be prepared to cast identical models if the Prince desired them as cabinet pieces. The statuettes became a great success and entered several noble collects ions. The nude athlete, an intricate study of male anatomy, was one of the most successful of Soldani's reductions. Further casts are in the Bargello in Florence, the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum in Munich, and the Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum in Brunswick.

The present bronze is an attractive reduction of the ancient model and would have been made in Florence in the 18th century, following the fashion for small scale bronze reductions begun by Soldani.

RELATED LITERATURE
K. Lankheit, 'Eine Serie Barocker Antiken-Nachbildungen aus der Werkstatt des Massimiliano Soldani,' Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Römische Abteilung, vol. 65, 1958, pp. 186-198, pl. 62; C. Avery, 'Soldani's small bronze statuettes after 'Old Master' sculptures in Florence,' H Keutner (ed.), Kunst des Barock in der Toskana. Studien zur Kunst unter den letzten Medici, Munich, 1976, pp. 165-72, fig. 2; M. Leithe-Jasper and P. Wengraf, European Bronzes from the Quentin collects ion, exh. cat. The Frick collects ion, New York, 2004, pp. 262-7, no. 29; J. Warren, Beauty and Power. Renaissance and Baroque Bronzes from the Peter Marino collects ion, exh. cat. Wallace collects ion, Huntington Art collects ions and Minneapolis Institute of Arts, London, 2010, pp. 216-25, no. 20