Alexander the Great

Bronze, on a later stone base

14.7 cm. / 5 ¾ ins (the figure), 18 cm. / 7 ins overall

PROVENANCE:

French private collection

This interesting small bronze figure of Alexander the Great was executed in late Renaissance Italy, when the study of antiquities was active in cities such as Florence, Padua, Mantua and Venice.

It shows Alexander standing naked in contrapposto looking to dexter with his weight on his right leg. His twisting, well-defined musculature indicates he is a young virile male, which is also evidenced by his long hair parted in the centre and flowing in luscious locks back across the head. Both arms are missing and there are a number of dents on the right side of the torso and right leg which appear to belong to the original metal surface, indicating that the model was damaged prior to casting.

Judging by the stance, hairstyle and heroic aspect, the present figure was inspired by an ancient bronze statuette of Alexander the Great, which itself would have derived from a lost bronze statue of Alexander Doryphorus (the ‘Spear-thrower’), executed in the late fourth century BC by the Greek sculptor Lysippos (for more on Lysippos’ statue and the ancient bronzes it inspired, see Stewart, op. cit.). For a related ancient statuette of Alexander, the type of which could have served as a compositional model for the present figure, see the bronze in The Harvard Art Museums (Obj. no. 1956.20, fig. 1) with its comparable stance, taut physique and long, flowing locks of hair.[1]

The present figure likely originates from a north Italian workshop in the sixteenth century and would have been cast from a wax or terracotta model which was fragmentary and intentionally damaged, to make it appear to be a genuine antiquity. For a comparable Renaissance-period torso based on an antique prototype, see the male figure in the Metropolitan Museum, New York (acc. no. 64.101.1432), which is assumed to originate from Ferrara in northern Italy and catalogued as late fifteenth century.[2] See also a complete bronze figure of Alexander dated to the sixteenth century (sold at Christie’s, London, 7 July 2005, lot 393).

Several sixteenth-century small bronzes, cast after models by Michelangelo, such as a bronze David attributed to Jacopo del Duca (c. 1540, Rijksmuseum, obj. no. BK-NM-7213), are also comparable in terms of their fragmentary nature and rough modelling and finish.

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RELATED LITERATURE:

Andrew Stewart, Face of Power: Alexander’s Image and Hellenistic Politics. Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1993, pp. 161-65, figs 32, 35

[1] For images, see Harvard Art Museums website: https://harvardartmuseums.org/collections/object/312306

[3] For images, see Met Museum website: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/203925

[3] For images, see Rijksmuseum website: https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/collection/BK-NM-7213