AN ITALIAN BRONZE GRAND TOUR FRAGMENT OF THE BELVEDERE ANTINOUS

AN ITALIAN BRONZE GRAND TOUR FRAGMENT OF THE BELVEDERE ANTINOUS

AFTER THE ANTIQUE, POSSIBLY EARLY 18TH CENTURY

later mounted on a giallo antico and black marble plinth, together with a French bronze figure of Mercury after Giambologna, on a Siena marble plinth (2)

31.2cm high (Antinous overall), 47.7cm high (Mercury overall)

Catalogue Note

The original marble sculpure was bought by Pope Paul III (1534-1549) to decorate a niche in the Courtyard of Statues (Cortile delle Statue). It was found around 1540 in the gardens surrounding the Mausoleum of Hadrian (Castel Sant'Angelo) and for this reason it was long held to be a statue of Antinous, the Emperor Hadrian's favourite. The original certainly dates from the time of Hadrian, and shows Hermes in his role as Psychopompos, who guides the souls of the dead to the Underworld.
The god is shown awaiting the deceased, melancholy and with his gaze lowered; his travelling cloak is thrown over his shoulder and wrapped around his forearm.