Baroque | Second quarter of the 17th Century | Ca. 1625/40
A Turk on horseback hunting a Lion
Cast and chiselled patinated bronze | On a later ebony base
H. 24 cm. W. 11 cm. D. 21 cm.
PROVENANCE
Private collection | Germany
REFERENCE LITERATURE
Harris, J. (1969). ‘The Diana Fountain at Hampton Court’, In: The Burlington Magazin, 111 No. 796, pp. 444-449
Pope-Hennessy, J. (1953). ‘Some Bronze Statuettes by Francesco Fanelli’, In: The Burlington Magazine, 95 No. 602, pp.157-162
Pope-Hennessy, J. (1968). ‘Some bronze statuettes by Francesco Fanelli’, In: Essays on Italian Sculpture, London, pp. 166-171, fig. 192
CATALOGUE NOTE
Francesco Fanelli from Florence was one of the most important sculptors of the first part of the 17th century. He worked in Genoa after he moved there with his entire family in 1605. It was there where he trained his children in sculpting. In 1630 he moved to Britain. Fanelli soon was appointed as royal sculptor. The inventory of the Royal Household in 1640 mentions several statues made by Francesco Fanelli, who was also known as the oneeyed Italian. Most of these statues still remain in the collection. Other members of the English nobility commissioned these small bronzes from which Fanelli derived his reputarion. This way his fame spread throughout Europe. The biographer Joachim von Sandrart speaks highly of the bronzes of Fanelli in his Teutsche Academie of 1675, especially about the fact that the high quality castings didn’t need to be touched up. This statue exelently illustrates the talents of Fanelli. The hunt for a lion is cought at its most dramatic moment. All movement is converged to the devastating bite of the predator.