This bronze statuette is based on the marble Capitoline Antinous which was recorded in 1733 in Cardinal Albani's collection, having been found in Hadrian's Villa. It is one of four bronzes made in the Zoffoli workshop bequeathed by Professor Rowland.
The Zoffoli workshop was the most important of four such workshops active in Rome during the eighteenth century and specialising in the reproduction of small bronzes after antique sculpture, primarily for the foreign Grand Tour market . Zoffoli bronzes were particularly collected in England where they formed ideal adornments for chimneypieces.
Physical description
Based on the famous antique marble Capitoline Antinous (Musei Capitolini, Rome).
Place of Origin
Rome, Italy (made)
Date
late 18th century (made)
Artist/maker
Zoffoli Workshop (maker)
Materials and Techniques
Bronze
Marks and inscriptions
'G.ZOFFOLI.F.'
Dimensions
Height: 33.02 cm
Object history note
Given by Professor Benjamin Rowland, Jr, through the National Art-Collections Fund.
Descriptive line
Antinous, bronze, Italian (Rome), workshop of Giacomo (1731-1785) and Giovanni (1745-1805) Zoffoli, late 18th century
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
Penny, Nicholas Catalogue of European sculpture in the Ashmolean Museum : 1540 to the present day. Oxford : Clarendon Press, 1992, Vol. I: Italian, pp.162-167, cat. no. 114.
Haskell, F and Penny, N. The Most Beautiful Statues: The Taste for Antique, Oxford, Ashmolean, 1981, no. 59, p. 43.
Honour, Hugh. 'Bronze statuettes by Giacomo and Giovanni Zoffoli' in Connoisseur, CXLVIII, 961, pp. 198-205.
The Age of Neo-Classicism, Exhibition catalogue , Arts Council England, Royal Academy of Arts, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1972, pp. 293-95
Penny, Nicholas and Haskell, Francis. Taste and the Antique, New Haven and London, 1981, pp. 148-151 and 342-43.
Avery, Charles. 'Bronze Statuettes in Woburn Abbey: New Attributions to Taddeo Landini and Giuseppe de Levis', Apollo, CXIX/1, February 1984, pp. 97-103
Radcliffe, A.F in Jackson-Stopes, Gervase ed. The Treasure Houses of Britain, 1985, pp. 358-61, cat. no. 285.
Nicholas, Penny. Catalogue of European Sculpture in the Ashmolean Museum: 1540 to the Present Day, Vol. I, Italian, Oxford, 1992, pp. 162-67.
Production Note
Although the bronze is signed, it is unclear whether Giacomo and Giovanni Zoffoli were directly involved in its modelling, casting or finishing because other sculptors, such as Vincenzo Pacetti, often made the models in their foundry.
Materials
Bronze
Subjects depicted
Antinous
Categories
Sculpture
Collection code
SCP
