SCULTORE DEL XVII-XVIII SECOLO Lot n° 630

Apollo and Venus Marble Resting on plinth bases of different marble (not coeval); defects, one with missing forearm, scratches, minor chipping, the bases of different manufacture Apollo, h. cm 127, w. cm 48 Venus, h. cm 125, w. cm 52 The bases, h. cm 83, w. cm 45, d. cm 45 (2) Provenance: Noble Tuscan collection These sculptural groups depict two of the most celebrated myths in the artistic landscape of all times. If the female one seems to be inspired by one of the various demure Venuses or other goddesses (the formal setting is reminiscent of the Venus of the Grotticina at the Boboli), the male one is our sculptor's version of the Apollino in the Uffizi, also in marble but from the Roman period (1st century AD), itself a copy of the so-called Lycian Apollo datable to the 4th century BC. Reference bibliography: A. Romualdi, The Apollino of the Tribune, in A. Romualdi, Studies and Restorations. The ancient marbles of the Uffizi Gallery, III, Florence 2010, pp. 131-134