Mercury, 16th century

West Building, Main Floor — West Sculpture Hall

Medium

bronze

Dimensions

overall: 156 x 64 x 40.7 cm (61 7/16 x 25 3/16 x 16 in.)
gross weight: 186.428 kg (411 lb.)

Credit Line

Andrew W. Mellon Fund

Accession Number

1959.7.1

Artists / Makers

Italian 16th Century (artist)

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
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Provenance

Possibly the Palazzo Farnese, Rome, before 1704 until at least 1722. Antonio Ramirez di Montalvo, Florence, by 1844. Frédéric Mylius, Genoa, before 1879; (his sale, Genoa, 5 November 1879, no. 179); purchased by J. Charvet; returned to Mylius family by 1882; art market, Milan, possibly on consignment from the Mylius family, 1905 until at least c. 1925; acquired from the Mylius family by (Rosenberg & Stiebel, New York);[1] purchased 6 November 1959 by NGA.

[1] Provenance taken from notes and letters in NGA curatorial files.

Associated Names

Art market, Milan, Italy
Charvet, J.
Montalvo, Antonio Ramirez di
Mylius
Mylius, Frédéric
Palazzo Farnese
Stiebel, Ltd.

Bibliography

1895: Müntz, Eugène. Les collections d'antiques formées par les Médicis au XVIe siècle. Paris, 1895: 24.

1960: Neugrass, Fritz. "Neuerwerbungen amerikanischer Museen." Weltkunst 30 (April 1960): 7, repro.

1965: Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 159.

1968: National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 141, repro.

1981: Haskell, Francis, and Nicholas Penny. Taste and the Antique: the Lure of Classical Sculpture 1500-1900. New Haven, 1981: 266-267.

1993: Jestaz, Bertrand. "Copies d'antiques au Palais Farnèse:Les Fontes de Gugielmo della Porta." Extraits des mélanges de l'Ecole Français de Rome 105 (1993): 7-48, repro. fig. 3a.

1994: Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1994: 115, repro.

2003: Ozone, Judy, and Shelley G. Sturman. “Technical investigation of the Mellon Venus and Bacchus and a Faun.” In Peta Motture, ed., Large Bronzes in the Renaissance. Studies in the History of Art 64, Symposium Papers 41 (2003): 203-213, esp. 209-210.

2003: Vincenzo Saladino, “L’arredo statuario della Sala dell Nicchie,” in Palazzo Pitti. La Reggia Rivelata, Detlef Heikamp, ed., exh. cat. Florence, 2003: 128-137, esp. 131, 133, 135 n. 43.

2013: Pierguidi, Stefano. “Mercurio a Firenze: da Lastricati a Giambologna.” Ricerche di storia dell’arte 109 (2013): 67-85, esp. 67, 73 (repro. as fig. 7, caption exchanged with fig. 6), 74-75, 82-83.