Italian, Rome, 17th century, after the Antique

Sotheby’s London, 5 December 2017, lot 115;

Where acquired.

The present bust stands out for the remarkable quality of the casting, which renders closely the philosopher's pensive expression, and the exceptional finishing, visible across the entire surface. Anaximander's penetrating gaze, reworked after the casting, draws the viewer's attention. The hair and beard, treated with a matt chisel, absorb the light, while it is reflected more intensely on the skin, animated by a multitude of fine parallel striations. The movement of these marks, left by the brush on the bronze, perfectly follows the volumes and further enhances the expressiveness of the model, which is imbued with a striking vitality.

Greek philosophers in 17^th century collections

Since the Renaissance, the greatest European collectors were required to have their own series of busts of Greek philosophers, some supposedly ancient, or cast from classical models, and, more frequently indeed, modern bronzes after classical models. In 1636 - 37, Hubert Le Sueur produced a series of busts of philosophers for St James's Palace, at the request of Charles 1^st (Hampton Court). In France, during the reign of Louis XIV, a comparable series appeared in the inventories of the Bronze de la Couronne, listing nineteen busts based on classical models, all Roman from the 17^th century (G. Bresc-Bautier, op. cit., pp. 49-54, and 163-64). Among them are those of Socrates, Pseudo-Demosthenes, Homer (two examples), Euripides, Seneca-Zeno and, under the no. 287, that of Pseudo-Diogenes (or Lysias), which is similar to our model (Louvre Museum, inv. MR 3365).

Girardon's collection, one of the most celebrated during Louis XIV's reign, included a similar series. They appear on high pedestals, in the imaginary views of the Gallerie Girardon, engraved in the early 18^th century after drawings by René Charpentier. Among the busts in the Girardon collection are those of Democritus (now identified as Seneca and attributed to Guido Reni), Seneca, Aristotle, two other philosophers (plate II, no. 15), Euripides, Socrates and Epicurus. On the left-hand side of the fourth plate of the collection, we find our model, inverted by the engraving process, and described as a ‘Diogenes teste Antique’ (no. 6; fig. 1). One should note that Girardon's example has the same cut-out of the bust as ours, differing only in the addition of a drapery falling over the shoulder.

Anaximander and his ancient bust

The model for this bust of Anaximander, with its striking expressiveness, is a marble herm dating from the Early Imperial period (Musei Capitolini, inv. MC 553). This model, less well known than Socrates, Heraclitus, Democritus and Epicurus, was rarely reproduced by 17^th century sculptors. His identity has fluctuated over time; the antique bust is documented from the first third of the 17^th century in Rome, in Vincenzo Giustiniani's collection, as a bust of Diogenes, then in Cardinal Alessandro Albani's collection and, from 1733, in Pope Clement XII's collection, as a portrait of Epicurus. The identification of this model as Anaximander was only confirmed later, by analogy with a profile of the philosopher on a relief at the Palazzo Altemps (Museo Nazionale Romano, inv. 506). In old publications and inventories, the bronzes made after Giustiniani's antique naturally underwent the same fluctuations, being alternately designated as Diogenes, Zeno, Epicurus or Lysias. Among the known modern copies of the model, one can mention the earliest bronze, cast in 1636, by Le Sueur (known as Zeno of Elea, Hampton Court, inv. RCIN 1331). Also noteworthy is a bronze bust of the same model in the Spanish royal collections, attributed to Girolamo Ferrer around 1650-57 (inv. no. 10010397).

The admirable surface work that distinguishes this bust, rendering the textures of the skin, hair and beard with striking realism, is distinctive from 17^th century Roman bronzes in the circle of François Duquesnoy (see. Apollo and Cupid and Mercury in the princely collections of Liechtenstein, inv. SK 610 and SK 611), or of Alessandro Algardi (see. the busts of Saint John the Evangelist and Saint Mary of Clopas, Chiesa dei Santi Vittore e Carlo e di Nostra Signora della Fortuna, Genoa). It also heralds the refined finish of the bronzes of the following generation, such as the large Marsyas by Pierre II Legros (princely collections of Liechtenstein, inv. SK 1488), and the busts of Roman emperors by Massimiliano Soldani Benzi. The Roman origin of this bust is further reinforced by the presence of the antique marble, in the Eternal City since at least the 1620s.

RELATED LITERATURE

R. Coppel, M. J. Herrero Sanz (dir.), Brillos en bronce colecciones de reyes, exh. cat. Palacio Real, Madrid, 2009, pp. 91, 141-43, no. 19; F. de La Moureyre, « François Girardon collectionneur », in A. Maral, (dir.), Girardon. Le sculpteur de Louis XIV, Paris, 2015, pp. 415-61, and p. 391, fig. 320 ; G. Bresc-Bautier, « Les bustes de bronze d’après l’Antique », in Les Bronzes de la Couronne, exh. cat. Louvre Museum, Paris, 1999, pp. 49-54, and p. 164 ; K. Herding, Pierre Puget 1620-1694. Catalogue raisonné, vol. II, Paris, 2023, pp. 25-26, no. SC7.