Friday, January 17, 2014

BACCO E SPERANZA -- Roman antiquities in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. BACCO E SPERANZA -- Including PROVENANCE. Gift of The Frederick W. Richmond Foundation, 1990.

Speranza


Statue of BACCO leaning on a female figure ("Hope BACCO")
Restored by Pacetti, Vincenzo
Period: Augustan or Julio-Claudian
Date: 27 B.C.-A.D. 68
Culture: Roman
Medium: Marble
Dimensions: H. 210.2 cm
Classification: Stone Sculpture
Credit Line: Gift of The Frederick W. Richmond Foundation, Judy and Michael Steinhardt, and Mr. and Mrs. A. Alfred Taubman, 1990
Accession Number: 1990.247
This artwork is currently on display in Gallery 162

The head of BACCO is ancient but, oddly, from another statue.

Restorations by the eighteenth-century Italian sculptor Vincenzo Pacetti: on BACCO include the  ivy wreath, neck, both arms, lower right leg, calf and boot of left leg, hanging drapery on right side; on the archaistic image of SPERANZA: uplifted corner of drapery, both arms, lower half of lower legs, feet, pedestal, entire base.

This is, typically, a Roman copy of Greek original.

Adaptation of a Greek work of the 4th century B.C.

BACCO, god of wine and divine intoxication, wears a panther skin over his short chiton and his high sandals with animal heads on the overhanging skin flaps.

BACCO stands beside an archaistic female image whose pose and dress imitate those of statues carved in the sixth century B.C.

It is difficult to know whether the original bronze statue of Bacco, of which this is a copy, included the female figure.

Supports in the form of pillars, herms, and small statues were not uncommon in Classical art, but this figure may have been added to support the outstretched arm and may represent Spes, a Roman personification of Hope, who was commonly shown as an archaistic maiden.

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Provenance
1796, March: acquired by Vicenzo Pacetti from the Aldobrandini Palace, Rome.

1796: acquired by Henry Philip Hope from Vicenzo Pacetti

1917, July 23, purchased by Francis Howard from Christie's, London. It remained in the collection of Howard until 1954.

1955: acquired for a private collection in Palm Beach.

1990, July 10: acquired from Sotheby's, New York, gift of The Frederick W. Richmond Foundation, Judy and Michael Steinhardt and Mr. and Mrs. A. Alfred Taubman.
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References:

Guattani, G.A. 1806
"Memorie Enciclopediche Romane sulle belle arti, antichità Ec.", III. P. 91, no. 58.

Hope, T. 1807.
"Household Furniture and Interior Decoration",
executed from designs by Thomas Hope. London, pl. I.

Hope, T. 1812.
"Costume of the Ancients".
2nd ed. London: William Miller, pl. 167.

Westmacott, C.M. 1824.
"British Galleries of Painting and Sculpture". London,
p. 221.

The Society of Dilettanti. 1835.
"Specimens of Ancient Roman Sculpture",
Selected from Several Collections in England,
by the Society of Dilittanti,
vol. II. London, plate 53.

Clarac, F. de. 1826-1853.
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Müller, K.O. 1854-1869.
Denkmäler der alten Kunst: Nach der Auswahl und Anordnung von C. C. Müller. 2nd edition. Göttingen, pl. 33, 372.

Michaelis, A. 1874.
"Die Privatsammlungen antiker Bildwerke in England."
Archäologische Zeitung 32: 16, no. 11.

Michaelis, A. 1882.
"Ancient Marbles in Great Britain".
Cambridge: University Press, p. 280, no. 3.

Roscher, W.H. 1884.
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Leipzig: B.G. Teubner, p. 1133, fig. 14.

Furtwängler, A. 1895.
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Montaiglon, A. 1907.
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Paris : Charavay, vol. XVI, pp. 412-413.

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Christie's, London.
Sale catalogue, July 23-24, 1917, lot 257, plate 20.

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Archaisierende griechische Rundplastik.
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Zancani, D. 1924.
"Della testa di Bacco del museo capitolino e del tipo statuario al quale appartiene."
Bullettino della Commissione Archeologica Comunale di Roma
52: 65-90, plate 3.

Waldhauer, O. F. 1928.
Die antiken Skulpturen der Ermitage II. Archäologische Mitteilungen aus Russischen Sammlungen. Berlin: W. de Gruyter, nos. 128 and 129.

Waldhauer, O. 1931.
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Lippold, G. 1950.
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In Handbuch der Archäologie III, edited by Otto and Herbig. München: Beck, p. 224, no. 10.

Muthmann, F. 1951.
Statuenstützen und dekoratives Beiwerk an griechischen und römischen Bildwerken: ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der römischen Kopistentätigkeit. Heidelberg: C. Winter, p. 20.

Vermeule, C.C. 1955.
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Ancient Roman Marbles in Great Britain."
American Journal of Archaeology 59: 134.

Pochmarski, E. 1974.
Das Bild des Bacco in der Rundplastik der klassischen Zeit Griechenlands.
Wien: Verb. d. Wissenschaftl. Gesellschaften Österreichs, pp. 69-72.

Hartmann, J. and K. Parlasca. 1979.
Antike Motive bei Thorvaldsen: Studien zur Antikenrezeption des Klassizismus. Tübingen: E. Wasmuth, pp. 73-74, pl. 20,1.

Waywell, G.B. 1986.
The Lever and Hope Sculptures:
Ancient Roman Sculptures in the Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight, and A Catalogue of the Ancient Sculptures formerly in the Hope Collection, London and Deepdene. Berlin: Mann, no. 6, pp. 72-3, pl. 49,1.

Sotheby's, New York. Sale cat., June 20, 1990, lot 40.

1991.
One Hundred Twenty-first
Annual Report of the Trustees for the Fiscal Year
July 1, 1990 through June 30, 1991.
New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, pp. 31-32.

Picon, C. A. 1991.
"Recent Acquisitions: A Selection 1990-1991."
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 49, pp. 10-11.

Ramage, N. 1999.
"The Pacetti Papers and the Restoration of Ancient Sculpture in the 18th Century."
In Von der Schönheit weissen Marmors: Zum 200.
Todestag Bartolomeo Cavaceppis, Weiss, T., ed. Mainz: P. von Zabern, vol. 2, pp. 81-2, fig. 54.

Picon, C. A. et al. 2007. Art of the Classical World in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, no. 429, pp. 369, 489-90.

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