Lion Hunting

Object belonging

One's own

Category

Bronze sculpture

City

Rome

Location

Museo Nazionale del Palazzo di Venezia

Specific location

Room 17

Inventory

PV 09289

Material and technique

Bronze, gold-red translucent lacquer, part missing

Author

Ferdinando Tacca (1619-1686)

Dating

c. 1650

Dimensions

28 x 42.8 x 15 cm.

Origin

Barsanti Collection (1934)

Image copyright

SSPSAE e per il Polo Museale della città di Roma

Short description

The original composition of this high-quality hunting scene, from which the horseman is now missing, can be seen in a complete version held in the Quirinal in Rome. Here the hunter is a young, cleanshaven man with Asian features, with his head covered by a large turban. His tunic opens out at the bottom on both sides, leaving his knees uncovered and his short boots slant at the back to reveal his calves; in his right hand he brandishes a scimitar, though in other versions he is holding a long pole or lance. The position of the hunter’s wrist, either turned up or down, is determined by the manner in which each weapon is carried.

Pietro Cannata

Bibliography

L. Pollak, Raccolta Alfredo Barsanti (Trecento-Settecento), Bergamo 1922, no. 62 p. 88; A. Santangelo, Museo di Palazzo Venezia. Catalogo delle sculture, Rome 1954, p. 55; A. Radcliffe - N. Penny, Art of the Renaissance bronze 1500-1650: the Robert H. Smith collection, London, 2004, no. 45, pp. 254-259; J. Warren, Beauty & power: Renaissance and baroque bronzes from the Peter Marino collection, London 2010, no. 9, pp. 100-113.