11
Juan Baptista Franconio. Late 16th century, based on the casting of Michelangelo Buonarroti's model.
In Millésime 24
1/13
Description
Juan Baptista Franconio. Late 16th century, based on the casting of Michelangelo Buonarroti's model.
"Christ"
Gilded bronze sculpture.
22.5 x 21 cm.
Magnificent gilded bronze Christ. This is one of the pieces obtained by casting bronze from the model by Michelangelo, which Juan Baptista Franconio, an Italian silversmith, brought to Seville in 1597 from Rome, where he settled.
The significance of the Christ by Michelangelo was such that it was one of the inspirational works of art that led Juan Martínez Montañés to create his Christ of the Chalices. Francisco Pacheco recounts this in his posthumously published "Art of Painting" in Seville in 1649.
He mentions that Martínez Montañés made this sculpture following the posture of another Christ, describing it as follows: "Michaelangelo, the illustrious light of painting and sculpture, made a crucifix with four nails for a model, which we can now enjoy. Juan Baptista Franconio, a brave silversmith, brought it to this city, cast in bronze, in 1597, and after enriching all painters and sculptors with it, he gave the original to Pablo de Céspedes, a canon of the Holy Church of Córdoba, who held it with great esteem around his neck." It is now known that the original is, for the moment, unaccounted for.
Pacheco also specifies in his writing that he applied on January 17th (1600) a matte polychrome to the first of these four-nail crucifixes he cast.
One of the painters whose work was enriched by being able to capture such a sculptural marvel on canvas, was Diego Velázquez, due to family ties, as he was Pacheco's son-in-law. In Anselmo López Morais' article “Crucifijo de Miguel Ángel (Un ejemplar en colección particular de Orense)” (Crucifix by Michelangelo (A specimen in a private collection in Ourense))' the 'two portraits he made in 1620 in Seville of Mother Jerónima de la Fuente (one in the Prado Museum in Madrid and another, where [the crucifix] can be seen clearly, in the Fernández Araoz Collection, also in Madrid)' are mentioned.
Precisely this article is very useful in order to contrast similarities between this sculpture and the one mentioned by Michelangelo cast by Franconio. Among other things, it states: "The news from Pacheco was collected by Manuel Gómez-Moreno who, intrigued for a long time by a series of metal images obtained by casting, attributes them, with many doubts, to the Granada sculptor Alonso Cano, but later identifies them as those obtained from the Crucifix by Michelangelo mentioned in the 'Art of Painting'."
López Morais continues quoting Gómez-Moreno to define the detailed characteristics of the 22 cm Crucifix: "it imposes by its very sobriety of resources, an imposing start that enlarges such a small work, [and] the body hangs limp, with absolute mass symmetry, as in real life; the head, which is small, falls on the chest and leans slightly to the right; the hands contract, clenched; the left leg crosses over the right, as revealed by Saint Brigid, flattening the calf upon contact, and the foot is deformed by the pressure of the nail; the almost embryonic nature of his virile organs matches a narrowness of hips that gives predominance to the chest over the other members; the belly sinks, and the complexion, emaciated, accentuates bony reliefs rather than muscles, except in the arms where tension makes even the arteries visible, but it is all modelled with unsurpassed delicacy and art."
In Spain, there are several known silver or bronze specimens considered to be original castings from Franconio. Originals are found in the Museum of Caminos in Astorga, Palacio de Oriente in Madrid, the Gómez-Moreno Museum in Granada, the Caja de Ahorros de Segovia, the Cathedral of Seville, and the Ducal Palace of Gandía, among others. Some others are unsure whether they were cast from the original or even at that time.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has a Christ and the two thieves in its collection with the registration number 37.28a–d, and currently attributes authorship for this figure of Christ as based on a model by Michelangelo Buonarroti. The question arises as to whether it was a casting made in Rome, a hypothesis supported by the context of the set, or whether, like ours, it is one of the examples made from Franconio, which is based, according to the MET, on "the quality of modeling and casting, both crisp and fluid, [which] brings it closer to numerous surviving silver copies in Spain".
Provenance: Fernández Araoz Collection.
Reference bibliography:
- López Morais, Anselmo. (1988). Crucifijo de Miguel Ángel (Un ejemplar en colección particular de Orense). "Porta da aira: revista de historia del arte orensano", Nº 1, 97-107.
- Metropolitan Museum of Art. (s.f.). "Christ and the Two Thieves Crucified".
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/197995
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Juan Baptista Franconio. Late 16th century, based on the casting of Michelangelo Buonarroti's model.
"Christ"
Gilded bronze sculpture.
22.5 x 21 cm.
Magnificent gilded bronze Christ. This is one of the pieces obtained by casting bronze from the model by Michelangelo, which Juan Baptista Franconio, an Italian silversmith, brought to Seville in 1597 from Rome, where he settled.
The significance of the Christ by Michelangelo was such that it was one of the inspirational works of art that led Juan Martínez Montañés to create his Christ of the Chalices. Francisco Pacheco recounts this in his posthumously published "Art of Painting" in Seville in 1649.
He mentions that Martínez Montañés made this sculpture following the posture of another Christ, describing it as follows: "Michaelangelo, the illustrious light of painting and sculpture, made a crucifix with four nails for a model, which we can now enjoy. Juan Baptista Franconio, a brave silversmith, brought it to this city, cast in bronze, in 1597, and after enriching all painters and sculptors with it, he gave the original to Pablo de Céspedes, a canon of the Holy Church of Córdoba, who held it with great esteem around his neck." It is now known that the original is, for the moment, unaccounted for.
Pacheco also specifies in his writing that he applied on January 17th (1600) a matte polychrome to the first of these four-nail crucifixes he cast.
One of the painters whose work was enriched by being able to capture such a sculptural marvel on canvas, was Diego Velázquez, due to family ties, as he was Pacheco's son-in-law. In Anselmo López Morais' article “Crucifijo de Miguel Ángel (Un ejemplar en colección particular de Orense)” (Crucifix by Michelangelo (A specimen in a private collection in Ourense))' the 'two portraits he made in 1620 in Seville of Mother Jerónima de la Fuente (one in the Prado Museum in Madrid and another, where [the crucifix] can be seen clearly, in the Fernández Araoz Collection, also in Madrid)' are mentioned.
Precisely this article is very useful in order to contrast similarities between this sculpture and the one mentioned by Michelangelo cast by Franconio. Among other things, it states: "The news from Pacheco was collected by Manuel Gómez-Moreno who, intrigued for a long time by a series of metal images obtained by casting, attributes them, with many doubts, to the Granada sculptor Alonso Cano, but later identifies them as those obtained from the Crucifix by Michelangelo mentioned in the 'Art of Painting'."
López Morais continues quoting Gómez-Moreno to define the detailed characteristics of the 22 cm Crucifix: "it imposes by its very sobriety of resources, an imposing start that enlarges such a small work, [and] the body hangs limp, with absolute mass symmetry, as in real life; the head, which is small, falls on the chest and leans slightly to the right; the hands contract, clenched; the left leg crosses over the right, as revealed by Saint Brigid, flattening the calf upon contact, and the foot is deformed by the pressure of the nail; the almost embryonic nature of his virile organs matches a narrowness of hips that gives predominance to the chest over the other members; the belly sinks, and the complexion, emaciated, accentuates bony reliefs rather than muscles, except in the arms where tension makes even the arteries visible, but it is all modelled with unsurpassed delicacy and art."
In Spain, there are several known silver or bronze specimens considered to be original castings from Franconio. Originals are found in the Museum of Caminos in Astorga, Palacio de Oriente in Madrid, the Gómez-Moreno Museum in Granada, the Caja de Ahorros de Segovia, the Cathedral of Seville, and the Ducal Palace of Gandía, among others. Some others are unsure whether they were cast from the original or even at that time.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has a Christ and the two thieves in its collection with the registration number 37.28a–d, and currently attributes authorship for this figure of Christ as based on a model by Michelangelo Buonarroti. The question arises as to whether it was a casting made in Rome, a hypothesis supported by the context of the set, or whether, like ours, it is one of the examples made from Franconio, which is based, according to the MET, on "the quality of modeling and casting, both crisp and fluid, [which] brings it closer to numerous surviving silver copies in Spain".
Provenance: Fernández Araoz Collection.
Reference bibliography:
- López Morais, Anselmo. (1988). Crucifijo de Miguel Ángel (Un ejemplar en colección particular de Orense). "Porta da aira: revista de historia del arte orensano", Nº 1, 97-107.
- Metropolitan Museum of Art. (s.f.). "Christ and the Two Thieves Crucified".
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/197995
Millésime 24
Sale Date(s)
Lots: 73
Venue Address
Conde de Salvatierra, 8
Barcelona
08006
Spain
General delivery information available from the auctioneer
The purchase price includes the delivery of the lots in the venue of the auction. Transporting to other destinations is at the own risk of the client. The customer must contact "LST", to give the corresponding instructions for such transporting. "LST" is not responsible for the packaging or any accident incurred during transportation.
Important Information
Once again, we start the year with a special auction, called Millésime.
A catalog of 73 lots of European, Novo-Hispanic and Vicerregal art, so spanish americas art, where you will find paintings, furniture, decorative arts etc.
We hope you enjoy it!!
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From 50.-€ to 200.-€…………………………………………..at 10.-€
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From 1.000.-€ to 2.000.-€………………………………..…100 in 100.-€
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From 20.000.-€ to 50.000.-€……………………………2.500 in 2.500.-€
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X. CATALOG DATA. The catalogue data are obtained in order to careful research and advice, however, any responsibility is afforded about its accuracy. The lots will be auctioned in the state in which they are, not accepting any claims in restorations, breakage, damage, imperfections and, even description or numbering mistakes in the catalogue, in case of it, being the burden of the buyers to make sure before the auction that the description matches with their personal opinion about respective lot. The exhibition of the lots is intended to allow a perfect review and study of them.
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