War marches forward - Marte trionfante, bronze by Giambologna, circa 1566 / porcelain copy, circa 1740s

 

As court sculptor to the grand dukes of Tuscany, Giambologna created many monumental works in marble and bronze, numerous examples of which continue to populate public spaces and museums in Florence. Perhaps as important to his legacy, he was also a master of the small scale bronze, a talent which endeared him to his patrons who easily recognized the diplomatic value of sending these jewel-like creations to fellow European rulers. Among the earliest and most popular of these bronzes is the figure of a "triumphant" Mars. 

Bronze, Giambologna, before 1577 - probably circa 1566, height: 15 5⁄8 in.; 39.6 cm.

Porcelain on an ebonized wood base, Doccia porcelain manufactory after a model by Giambologna, circa 1740-50, height: 13 ¼ in.; 34 cm. 

The object in the figure's right hand is a bladeless sword hilt; some versions - and copies - include the blade.

There are believed to be five sixteenth-century casts of his Marte trionfante, including the present example. (Along with a number of seventeenth-century casts, some of which are of high quality.) The earliest documented bronze is the Dresden cast sent by Giambologna by 1587 to Christian I, Elector of Saxony. Beyond the present example, the other three include a signed gilt example in a private collection in Canada, as well as examples in Berlin and one formerly in New York. The Dresden, Berlin, and New York casts all appear to be from the hand of the sculptor’s most famous assistant, Antonio Susini, who joined the Florentine workshop in 1580. Susini is known for the close attention he paid to "cold work," the filing and chiseling of a bronze after it has come out of the mold; some feel that the technical brilliance of this finish occasionally obscures the freshness of the original model.

The present cast, though, retains all the freshness of Giambologna's original wax model, and so must pre-date the arrival of Susini, thus dating it to the 1560s or 1570s when the sculptor was working more frequently with the bronze caster Zanobi Portigiani. Like the signed example in Canada, there is a greater freedom to the details, almost none of which required "cold work." The skill of the caster was such that even the finest details were reproduced directly, almost as they would have appeared in the original wax. Despite the lack of early documentation, it would therefore seem that this and the Canadian bronze are the earliest examples of the model, and the most faithful to Giambologna’s original conception. 

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Giambologna (also known as Jean de Boulogne, Jehan Boulongne, and Giovanni da Bologna - 1529, Douai, France - 13 August 1608, Florence), the last significant Italian Renaissance sculptor, he employed a large workshop producing large and small works in bronze and marble in a late Mannerist style. After youthful studies in Antwerp with the architect-sculptor Jacques du Broeucq, he moved to Italy in 1550 and studied in Rome, making a detailed study of the sculpture of classical antiquity. He was also much influenced by Michelangelo, but developed his own Mannerist style. He spent his most productive years in Florence, where he had settled in 1553. In 1563, he was named a member of the prestigious Accademia delle Arti del Disegno, just founded by the Duke Cosimo I de' Medici, becoming also one of the Medicis' most important court sculptors. He died in Florence at the age of seventy-nine and was interred in a chapel he designed himself in the Santissima Annunziata.

Though it's merely a simple copy of the "great work," I think I rather prefer the brightness and "naked guy running about" casualness of the porcelain version.