Apollo Belvedere: M.14-2023

Titles

Apollo Belvedere

Maker(s)

Sculptor: Antico (Pier Jacopo Alari Bonacolsi)

Entities

• Figure

Categories

• Sculpture

Description

Bronze figure, cast, chased, patinated and with partial gilding and silvered eyes

Notes

History note: Sir Alfred Beit, Bt., London; Sotheby's, London, 7 October 1948, lot 119 (£1,200 to Alfred Spero for Lt. Col. the Hon. M.T. Boscawen, D.S.O., M.C.). Lt. Col. the Hon. M.T. Boscawen, and by descent to the Hon. Mrs. Pamela Sherek. Bequeathed by the Hon. Mrs. Pamela Sherek, in memory of the late Lt. Col. the Hon. M.T. Boscawen, D.S.O., M.C., to The University of Cambridge; sold privately on behalf of the University of Cambridge to settle duties on the bequest. From the collection of Cecil and Hilda Lewis, from whose Estate allocated to the Fitzwilliam Museum by HM Government.

Legal notes

Accepted in Lieu of Tax by HM Government in 2023 and allocated to the Fitzwilliam Museum

Place(s) associated

• Mantua ⪼ Italy

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Allocated (2023) by H.M. Government

Dating

16th Century
Production date: circa AD 1505

Note

Antico’s nickname was due to his unrivalled skill in replicating works of antiquity, in this case, a reduced-scale copy of the famous life-size Classical marble statue known as the Apollo Belvedere, due to its location from 1503 in the Vatican’s Belvedere Courtyard. When Antico studied it in the late 1490s, the statue’s left forearm and right hand were still missing (restored in 1532), so he re-invented them. This statuette was likely made for a wealthy member of the Gonzaga court at Mantua.