Workshop of Antonio Susini (Florence 1558 - 1624), Florence, 17th century

Cyril Humphris, London;

Sotheby's, New York, The Cyril Humphris Collection, 10 January 1995, lot 29;

Where acquired.

Unique in its diminutive stature, this finely cast bronze, although riderless, is compositionally analogous to a bronze reduction of the monument to Henri IV on horseback in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Dijon.¹ The equestrian group is considered to be closely related to the horse signed by Antonio Susini in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London,² and the quality of casting, fine detail and beautiful patina corresponds to the work of an accomplished sculptor.

The prototype for a series of bronze horses is the equestrian monument of Cosimo I de Medici (1587-1593) by Giambologna and assistants, which is in the Piazza della Signoria, Florence, and documents have shown that Giambologna was producing similar models during the late 1570s. Baldinucci wrote that Antonio Susini was responsible for the models, molds, casting and finishing of the horse and rider for the Cosimo monument,³ and it follows that he would be the recipient of Giambologna's equestrian models for casting in his own foundry.

¹ A. Radcliffe and C. Avery (eds.), Giambologna 1529-1608: Sculptor to the Medici, exh. cat. Arts Council of Great Britain, London and Edinburgh, 1978, pp. 178 - 179, cat. no. 160.

² Ibid., p. 181, cat. no. 162

³ Ibid.