Fragment of a marble plaque carved in bas-relief... - Lot 220 - Maison R&C, Commissaires-Priseurs Associés

Lot 220
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Estimation :
5500 - 6500 EUR
Fragment of a marble plaque carved in bas-relief... - Lot 220 - Maison R&C, Commissaires-Priseurs Associés
Fragment of a marble plaque carved in bas-relief representing Hercules capturing the Cretan bull. This is the left part of the scene which shows the hero, one leg straight, the other bent, his foot resting on a rock; Hercules is grasping the animal by one of its horns, which has now disappeared. He is completely naked, wearing only the skin of the Nemean lion as a cloak, with his head as a headdress. Lombardy, Vicenza, attributed to Ruggero Bescapès (Bascapè ?-Rome 1600) 1584- 1590 Height: 77 cm - Width: 54,5 cm Thickness: 12,5 cm (broken and missing) There is little documentation on Ruggero Bescapè, a sculptor of Lombard origin who ended his career in Rome. We know of his activity in Vicenza, in 1584 and 1585, where he produced his first known work, the statues and stucco bas-reliefs of the Olympic Theatre. Commissioned by the great architect Andrea Palladio, this first permanent and closed theatre of the Renaissance embodied the cultural ambitions of the Olympic Academy of Vicenza, a humanist society that brought together some twenty people belonging to the nobility, wealthy landowners and various personalities from the world of the Arts and Sciences in the city. With the motto Hic opus hic labor (Virgil, Aeneid, VI, 129), "It is an enterprise, it is hard work", the Academy naturally chose Hercules as the symbol of the effort and work necessary to gain knowledge. The sculptor Ruggero Bescapè was commissioned to illustrate the various feats of the Greek hero. The twelve labours are depicted in a frieze that decorates the upper part of the parascenium and proscenium in a series of panels separated by the full-length figures of the statues of the founders. The scene depicting the capture of the Cretan bull is considered one of the most beautiful in the cycle. The fragment shown here is the marble version of the panel in the upper right corner. As was often the case in Italy, an artist or his workshop would sometimes produce several copies in different materials - stucco, terracotta or cartapesta (stucco, terracotta or papier-mâché) - of the same bas-relief. The composition of the marble is more refined, concentrating on the two actors alone. The modelling is also more subtle, the musculature of the hero being less powerful and more discreet, as well as the physiognomies which are here less fierce, both those of Hercules and those of the animal. This could be the original marble work that was used to create the stucco decor, for which the volumes would have been accentuated in order to make the subject more theatrical and dramatic, as befits a stage decor intended to be intelligible to the most distant spectators. Book consulted: M.E. Avagnina, The Olympic Theatre, Venice, 2005.
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