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The Mountain of Hell
Zoppo, Agostino, born 1515 - died 1572 - Enlarge image
The Mountain of Hell
- Object:
Group
- Place of origin:
Padua (made)
- Date:
1550-1560 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
Zoppo, Agostino, born 1515 - died 1572 (sculptor)
- Materials and Techniques:
Bronze
- Museum number:
A.62-1953
- Gallery location:
In Storage
This bronze illustrates Ovid's description of Juno's visit to the Underworld (Metamorphoses, iv, 447-463). The composition was originally completed by free-standing figures of Alcestis, Hercules and Sisyphus. The scene probably formed the lid of a perfume burner and is bored to emit smoke.
The sculptor Agostino Zoppo was trained in bronze-casting. He was employed as a founder by Jacopo Sansovino, the leading sculptor in Venice during the sixteenth century. Tow pairs of Mountains of Hell are mentioned in the inventory of Zoppo's studio after his death. The left foot of the missing figure of Sisyphus is still attached, and the small, regular holes indicate where core pins (or chaplets) were placed. A related group of poor quality is now in the Szepmuveszeti Muzeum in Budapest, and two others, formerly in the Figdor Collection, Berlin, were destroyed in 1945.
