Inkstand with Bound Satyrs and Three Labors of Hercules
c. 1530/1540
Sculptor

West Building Ground Floor, Gallery G14
Artwork overview
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Medium
bronze
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Credit Line
-
Dimensions
overall: 24.9 x 19 x 16 cm (9 13/16 x 7 1/2 x 6 5/16 in.)
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Accession
1942.9.140
Artwork history & notes
Provenance
Probably made c. 1530/1540 for a Marcello family member residing in Venice or Padua. Marquess of Exeter, Burghley House, London, in 1888. John Edward Taylor [1830-1905], London; (his estate sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 1-4, 9-10 July 1912, 1st day, no. 17, as by Riccio); (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London and New York); purchased 11 November 1912 by Peter A.B. Widener, Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania; inheritance from Estate of Peter A.B. Widener by gift through power of appointment of Joseph E. Widener, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania; gift 1942 to NGA.
Associated Names
Exhibition History
1978
Antiquity in the Renaissance, Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, Massachusetts, 1978, no. 124.
1989
Image and Word, Elizabeth Myers Mitchell Art Gallery, St. John's College, Annapolis, Maryland, 1989, no. 22.
1994
Fanciful Flourishes: Ornament in European Graphic Art and Related Objects, 1300-1800, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1994, brochure, no. 24.
Bibliography
1942
Works of Art from the Widener Collection. Foreword by David Finley and John Walker. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 9, as Triangular Inkstand by Riccio.
1948
Paintings and Sculpture from the Widener Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1948 (reprinted 1959): 143, repro., as Triangular Inkstand by Riccio.
1971
Mariacher, Giovanni. Bronzetti veneti del rinascimento. Vicenza, 1971: 27 no. 54, repro., as by Riccio.
1983
Wilson, Carolyn C. Renaissance Small Bronze Sculpture and Associated Decorative Arts at the National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1983: 73.
1994
Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1994: 162, repro.
1996
Wyss, Edith. The Myth of Apollo and Marsyas in the Art of the Italian Renaissance: An Inquiry into the Meaning of Images. Newark, Delaware, and London, 1996: 94, fig. 59.
2001
Pellegrini, Francesca. "Desiderio da Firenze, Bruciaprofumi con satiro." In Augusti, Adriana, et al, eds. Donatello e il suo tempo: il bronzetto a Padova nel Quattrocento e nel Cinquecento. Exh. cat. Musei Civici, Padua, 2001: 184.
2008
Penny, Nicholas. "The Evolution of the Plinth, Pedestal, and Socle." In Collecting Sculpture in Early Modern Europe. Nicholas Penny and Eike D. Schmidt, eds. Studies in the History of Art 70, Symposium Papers 47 (2008): 466 fig. 10.
2012
Schröder, Stephan F., ed. Leone & Pompeo Leoni: actas del congreso internacional = proceedings of the international symposium. Madrid, 2012: 52, fig. 39, 55 n. 24.
2013
Leino, Marika. Fashion, Devotion and Contemplation: The Status and Functions of Italian Renaissance Plaquettes. Oxford, 2013: 148 fig. 91, 149-150, n. 77.
2021
Luchs, Alison. "The Marcello Inkstand: Personalizing serial bronzes in a Paduan Renaissance workshop." Colnaghi Studies Journal, Articles in Honour of Charles Avery, 8 (March 2021): 48-55, fig. 1, figs. 2 and 3 (details).
Wikidata ID
Q63809959