he revival of the bronze statuette popular in classical antiquity stands out as an enduring achievement of the Italian Renaissance. These small sculptures attest to early modern artists' technical prowess, ingenuity, and desire to emulate—or even surpass—the ancients. From the studioli, or private studies, of humanist scholars in fifteenth-century Padua to the Fifth Avenue apartments of Gilded Age collectors, viewers have delighted in the mysteries of these objects: how they were made, what they depicted, who made them, and when. This catalogue is the first systematic study of The Metropolitan Museum of Art's European Sculpture and Decorative Arts collection of Italian bronzes. The collection includes statuettes of single mythological or religious figures, complex figural groups, portrait busts, reliefs, utilitarian objects like lamps and inkwells, and more. Stunning new photography of celebrated masterpieces by leading artists such as Antico, Riccio, and Giambologna; enigmatic bronzes that continue to perplex; quotidian objects; later casts; replicas; and even forgeries show the importance of each work in this complex field. International scholars provide in-depth discussions of 200 objects included in this volume, revealing new attributions and dating for many bronzes. An Appendix presents some 100 more complete with provenance and references. An essay by Jeffrey Fraiman provides further insight into Italian bronze statuettes in America with a focus on the history of The Met's collection, and Richard E. Stone, who pioneered the technical study of bronzes, contributes an indispensable text on how artists created these works and what their process conveys about the object's maker. A personal reminiscence by James David Draper, who oversaw the Italian sculpture collection for decades, rounds out this landmark catalogue that synthesizes decades of research on these beloved and complex works of art.

This outstanding collection of European bronze sculptures formed by Peter Marino, here catalogued for the first time and beautifully photographed by Maggie Nimkin, is built around an exploration of the human form, as depicted in this lustrous and sensuous material. With a special focus on French and Italian bronzes of the High Baroque, the catalogue illustrates the lively interchange of artists and ideas between Florence, Paris and Rome. Above all, the bronzes in the Marino collection are wonderful works of art, whose beauty and power speak across the centuries to today's audiences.

"The Hills' taste centers on the Florentine bronze, but their interests range to superb examples from northern Italy and Rome, as well as those from France and northern Europe. Giambologna, the great Flemish sculptor practicing in Florence in the late sixteenth century, is revered for the subtlety of his compositions and for his technical ability. He is well represented in the Hill collection through works from his own hand and those cast after his models by his assistant - and master in his own right - Antonio Susini."--"Director's foreword", p 8.

The outstanding collection of European bronze sculptures formed by acclaimed architect Peter Marino, which focuses especially on French and Italian bronzes of the High Baroque, includes masterpieces by some of the greatest sculptors of their age, among them Ferdinando Tacca, Giovanni Battista Foggini, Robert Le Lorrain and Corneille van Clève. This volume of contributions to the symposium held in June 2010 testifying to the importance of the Marino Collection includes nine essays by distinguished scholars of sculpture. Charles Avery, author of major monographs on Giambologna and Bernini, discusses the impetus behind one of the most exciting models in the Marino Collection, a Hercules and Anteaus, after Maderno. Geneviève Bresc-Bautier, Director of the Louvre Sculpture Department, examines the discovery of a large number of small pieces of terracotta sculpture, thought to be from the workshop of Andrés-Charles Boulle, which was destroyed in 1720. Anthea Brook, who has published extensively on Ferdinando Tacca, considers the attribution of a pair of small Florentine bronze hunting gropus in the Marino Collection, making the case for Damiano Cappelli - a bronze-casting specialist in the workshop of Tacca - to be considered as a sculptor capable of creating his own designs. Rosario Coppel investigates the impressive collection of small bronzes of the 3rd Duke of Alcalá (1583-1637), who was Philips IV's extraordinary ambassador to Pope Urban VIII and later Viceroy and Captain General in Naples. Philippe Malgouyres, Curator of Bronzes, Ivories and Metals at the Louvre, discusses the bronze casts after Bernini sculpture, a little-studied subject in the wide field of Bernini studies. Jennifer Montagu, Senior Fellow of the Warburg Institute, attempts to put together and define the oeuvre of the unknown sculptor of the magnificient 15-figure group ofbronze hunters, their hounds and a bull, in the Suermondt Ludwig Museum in Aachen. Independent scholar Regina Seelig Teuwen extols Guillaume Berthelot as a sculptor of small bronzes, while Jeremy Warren, Collections and Academic Director at the Wallace Collection, discusses the challenges of cataloguing the Peter Marino Collection for the critically acclaimed 2010 exhibition.

In the introductory essay to the catalogue of bronzes from the Fitzwilliam Museum 'Dr. Avery provides the first detailed account of Boscawen himself, of the loans and gifts he made to the Museum during his lifetime and his sister's extraordinarily generous bequest.' (Foreword)