Bird Hunter

Object belonging

One's own

Category

Bronze sculpture

City

Rome

Location

Museo Nazionale del Palazzo di Venezia

Specific location

Room 17

Inventory

PV 09284

Material and technique

Bronze, black lacquer

Author

attributed to Romolo Ferrucci called del Tadda (1544-1621)

Dating

Late 16th - early 17th century

Dimensions

25.7 x 12.5 x 12 cm.

Origin

Barsanti Collection (1934)

Image copyright

SSPSAE e per il Polo Museale della città di Roma

Short description

Pollak considered this bronze as one of Giambologna's early works, but the difference in quality with the artist’s oeuvre as a whole led Santangelo to attribute it to Giovanni Cacini. He considered it one of the best examples of the folk genre, attributed in part to Valerio and Giovanni di Simone Cioli and in part to Orazio Mochi, and to later Flemish copyists. The uncouth and grotesque figure seems to be typical of the work of Romolo del Tadda. The latter was used to sculpting porphyry and “pietra serena” (Italian grey sandstone) and produced a whole series of popular and animal-like sculptures for gardens in Florence, Mantua and France.

Bibliography

L. Pollak, Raccolta Alfredo Barsanti, Bergamo 1922; A. Santangelo, Museo di Palazzo Venezia. Catalogo delle sculture, Rome 1954; Italian Bronze Statuettes, exh. cat., London 1961, no. 126; Meesters van het der Italiaanse Renaissance, exh. cat., Amsterdam 1961-62, no. 124; Bronzetti Italiani del Rinascimento, exh. cat., Florence 1962, no. 122; P. Cannata, Antonio Susini, in S. E. Zuraw - M. G. Barberini - P. Cannata - M. L. Casanova (eds.), Masterpieces of Renaissance and Baroque Sculpture from Palazzo Venezia. Roma, exh. cat., Athens (Georgia) 1996, pp. 58-59.