Live Auction 15510European Sculpture & Works of Art
AFTER GIAMBOLOGNA, ITALIAN, LATE 18TH OR EARLY 19TH CENTURY
Lot 36

AFTER GIAMBOLOGNA, ITALIAN, LATE 18TH OR EARLY 19TH CENTURY

FORTUNA

Closed4 December 2018

Price Realised

GBP 6,250

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AFTER GIAMBOLOGNA, ITALIAN, LATE 18TH OR EARLY 19TH CENTURY
FORTUNA
Bronze figure holding aloft an arc of drapery; on a cylindrical red marble and bronze base
21 7/8 in. (55.5 cm.) high; 29 in. (73.7 cm.) high, overall

Specialist note

The model of Fortuna was attributed to Giambologna in 1973 by Watson and Avery ('Medici and Stuart: a Grand Ducal Gift of "Giovanni Bologna" Bronzes for Henry Prince of Wales', in Burlington Magazine, CXV, 1973, pp. 493-507), who brought to light documents which confirmed that Giambologna had designed a nude female figure of Fortune holding a sail. They concluded that Fortune may have been intended as a pendant to the sculptor's Mercury, as the two poses mirror each other and find a conceptual precedent in one of Andrea Alciati's Emblemata, where the two symbolise the contrast between industriousness and blind faith.