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

West Building, Ground Floor — Gallery G14

Medium

bronze

Dimensions

overall: 24.9 x 19 x 16 cm (9 13/16 x 7 1/2 x 6 5/16 in.)

Credit Line

Widener Collection

Accession Number

1942.9.140

Artists / Makers

North Italian 16th Century (sculptor)

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
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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

Christie, Manson & Woods, Ltd.
Duveen Brothers, Inc.
Exeter, Marquess of
Taylor, John Edward
Widener, Joseph E.
Widener, Peter Arrell Brown

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).