Minerva and Cupid

Entry

This sculpture – the only known example – has a varied attribution history. At the time of the purchase the bronze was considered to be by Johan Gregor van der Schardt (1530-1581), or by Hubert Gerhard (c. 1540/50-1620). In 1992 Larsson cautiously attributed the statuette to the sculptor Tiziano Aspetti (c. 1559-1606), who was active in Venice and worked in bronze in the 1590s. Larsson compared the piece to a small variant in Stockholm, which he also attributed to Aspetti.⁴ The two bronzes show the seated goddess in an elaborately decorated battledress with a putto standing beside her, and so in general terms they are quite similar. They differ considerably, however, in finish and details. Although the differences can of course be attributed in part to the difference in dimensions, both sculptures do not necessarily have to be by the same hand. The light-heartedness and attention to decorative details that characterize both sculptures are also found in a set of five statuettes of Mars that may have come from Aspetti’s circle.⁵

The bronze Minerva has also been attributed to Aspetti’s contemporary and colleague Girolamo Campagna (1549-1621).⁶ This attribution was based specifically on similarities to his large bronze group of statues for the high altar of the San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice, which was completed in the years 1592-93.⁷ The most important things in common were similarities between the plumage of the eagle of St John and the gryphons that surround the back of Minerva’s throne. The putto at St Matthew’s feet was also seen as related to the cupid standing next to Minerva. However, the physical proportions of the Amsterdam cupid bear no resemblance to those of Campagna’s putti, and the treatment of the wings and the curls also differs. Kryza-Gersch observed that the cupid probably did belong to the Amsterdam Minerva, but that it is coarser in style and execution.⁸ Recent technical observations and analyses confirm that the cupid was an addition by another (probably also Venetian) hand and consequently did not form part of the original model. Minerva’s delicate face with the small mouth and straight nose is comparable to Campagna’s female figures, such as the bronze St Agnes in the Venetian church of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari.⁹

Perhaps even more important for the purposes of comparison is the marble Allegory of War that Campagna made in 1585-86 for the Venetian Palazzo Ducale.¹⁰ Minerva’s pose, type of helmet and physique are very similar. In the marble version, the engaging, refined impression made by the bronze statue has given way to more austere, chillier feel. This difference is partly due to the contrast between a marble statue that is viewed from a particular distance (the piece stands above a door in the Sala delle Quattro Porte) and a smaller, bronze statuette that can be handled and scrutinized from all sides. However no parallel to the pronounced love of decorative surface details that is evident in the bronze work can be found in the documented works of Campagna.

Even though a relationship exists between documented works by Campagna and the Amsterdam Minerva, the sculpture also displays a similarity to works by one of Campagna’s contemporaries. Two bronze sculptures which, like Campagna’s group of statues for the high altar, are also in the San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice are particularly interesting as material for comparison. They are St Stephen and St George (fig. a) by the Genoese sculptor Niccolò Roccatagliata (1560-1629). Both these sculptures are somewhat larger than the Minerva in the Rijksmuseum and were intended for the balustrade of the choir of the San Giorgio Maggiore.¹¹ Roccatagliata received the commission for these two bronzes in 1595. In the following years he made various other bronze decorations for the same church. The composition of the seated St George with his upper body turned is similar to that of Minerva. The fondness for decorative surface details that we see, for example, in Stephen’s chasuble, is also found in the lavishly decorated, fanciful armour of the warrior goddess. Furthermore, the treatment of the gryphons’ feathers is comparable to that of the feathers of the eagle at the feet of a St John the Evangelist in Verona, a statue which was recently attributed to Niccolò Roccatagliata or his son Sebastian Niccolini.¹² In style Minerva is similar to these sculptures, which moreover evoke the same refined elegant feeling as the seated goddess.

Aspetti, Campagna and Roccatagliata are considered to belong to the last generation of Venetian sculptors of the Renaissance. With their dynamic poses, their work at times anticipates the baroque style that was to come. Campagna and Roccatagliata in particular made bronzes which, in their refined elegance, often owed much to the work of their trend-setting contemporary Alessandro Vittoria, and were very similar in style. A comparison of the finials of two bronze firedogs in Edinburgh and London is illuminating in this respect. One is considered as possibly by Niccolò Roccatagliata, the other as ‘in the style of’ Girolamo Campagna.¹³ The eagle at Jupiter’s feet on the firedog in Scotland is similar to the gryphons in the Minerva.

The bronze Minerva must in any case be placed in Venice around the end of the sixteenth century. In view of the similarities to various bronze sculptures by Roccatagliata and Campagna in the San Giorgio Maggiore dating from the period 1592-94 it is obvious that the model of Minerva is by one of these sculptors. The standing putto, possibly one of the stock models common in Venetian foundries, was not in the original model. Its addition may have been inspired by similar compositions such as the Stockholm Minerva and Cupid. Might one of the assistants or casters involved with the bronze decorations in the San Giorgio have adapted the model to create this engaging little group? A standing Mars and Minerva in Vienna with a similar lavish foliate decoration on their armour may have originated from this same Venetian foundry.¹⁴ Other useful material for comparison is a 58 cm-tall standing Minerva in Padua, which in the past has been attributed both to Aspetti and to Campagna.¹⁵

The statue, in common with the Italian She-Wolf with Romulus and Remus (BK-1958-39), and Willem van Tetrode's Striding Warrior (BK-1959-3), comes from the collection of the German steam locomotive builder Karl Henschel. After his death the bronzes in his collection ended up in different branches of the family. In 1958 a number of Henschel’s heirs decided to sell the bronzes to the same art dealer who had helped their father with the creation of his collection.¹⁶

Monique Verber, 2005 (updated by Bieke van der Mark in 2024)
This entry was originally published in F. Scholten, M. Verber et al., From Vulcan’s Forge: Bronzes from the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam 1450-1800, exh. cat. London (Daniel Katz Ltd.)/Vienna (Liechtenstein Museum) 2005-06, no. 17