Media Information

 
 
 
Collection:
ADJUNCT MODULE A: ITALIAN ART
Preferred Title:
Mercury
Alternate Title:
Flying Mercury
Image View:
Detail, figure from the back, showing the caduceus in Mercury's left hand
Creator:
Giambologna (Flemish sculptor, 1529-1608)
Location:
repository: Museo Nazionale del Bargello (Florence, Tuscany, Italy) Inv. 449 B
Location Note:
Via del Proconsolo, 4
GPS:
43.770423 11.257947
Date:
1580 (creation)
Cultural Context:
Italian
Style Period:
Mannerist (Renaissance-Baroque style)
Work Type 1:
sculpture (visual work)
Classification:
sculpture
Material:
bronze
Technique:
casting (process)
Measurements:
180 cm (height)
Description:
Giambologna's small bronze statuettes ('bronzetti') were enormously popular (they continued to be reproduced almost continuously until the 20th century) and being portable helped to give his style European currency. A series of bronze statues of Mercury (begun in ca. 1565) culminated in the renowned “flying” Mercury (1580, Bargello, Florence), outstanding for the airy elegance of its pose: the nude figure stands poised on the toes of the left foot on the breath of Zephyr, with the right arm raised high in a pointing gesture. Originally this decorated a fountain in the garden of the Villa Medici, Rome, owned by Cardinal Ferdinando de' Medici. (Source: Grove Art Online; http://www.oxfordart online.com/)
Collection:
Adjunct Module A: Italian Art
Identifier:
7A1-GB-MB-FM-A06
Rights:
© Scott Gilchrist, Archivision, Inc.

Mercury