Renaissance Animal Sculptures

Italian Alabaster Figure of the Medici Lion Late 19th century Italian carved alabaster 'Grand Tour' souvenir sculpture, after the antique, "The Medici Lion". Carved alabaster mode...

This striking Renaissance style carved gilt wood sculpture depicts a "grotesque" dolphin surmounted on a wood plinth base. The sculpture is modeled after classical Greco-Roman descr...

An impressive and large pair of carved oak/lime wood winged griffins from the C19TH. Likely Italian in origin and influenced by the European mythology of Hvars beast a carved galley...

A Lovely Pair of Medici Bronze Lions Lovely Patina and Definition C20th

20th century French stone lion holding a shield on a pedestal. A 20th century lion carved from stone holding a crest carved with a lion with wearing a crown. It is a representation o...

Calzetta Da Ravenna (Attivo Tra IL 1496 E IL 1543 circa) Severo. Circle of. Candlestick depicting a kneeling satyr. The model of the present bronze is the ""kneeling satyr"" attributed to Severo Calzetta da Ravenna, one of the main Paduan bronze sculptors of the first half of the 16th century, whose figure was rediscovered by Planiscig in 1935 (L. Planiscig, ""Severo da Ravenna...

In Medieval Europe and even more during the early 16th century fantastic beasts could be found in Bestiaries, a literary genre close to poetry. A bestiary used the characteristics of...

Pair 19th Century Country French Hunt Style Hand-Carved Oak Plaques is a striking pair executed on a generous scale and richly detailed in the beloved hunt tradition of the late 19th...

2 large ceramic horses' heads with a glossy white glaze, inspired by the "Horses of San Marco" or Donatello's so-called Protomé Carafa horse head. The two heads have different exp...

Sea monster Carrara marble mouth fountain Italy, late 16th century It measures 13.8 x 31.5 x 18.9 in (35 x 80 x 48 cm) State of conservation: some small evident gaps and widespread signs of wear due to outdoor exposure. The gray marks crossing it do not come from restoration, but are rather the natural veins of the marble. This work has some morphological characteristics typically associated with the iconography of the sea monster: an elongated muzzle, sharp teeth, protruding eyes, elongated ears, and a coiled serpent's tail. An in-depth series of studies on artistic depictions of the sea monster attempted to verify how this symbol evolved in antiquity in the European and Mediterranean contexts and how it gradually changed its image and function over time. The iconography itself is mutable and imaginative and its history is rich with cultural and artistic exchange, as well as the overlapping of ideas. This occurred so much that it is difficult to accurately pinpoint the "types" that satisfactorily represent its various developments. However, we can try to summarize the main figures, starting from the biblical Leviathan and the marine creature that swallowed Jonah (in the Christian version, this figure was to become a whale or a "big fish", the “ketos mega”, translation of the Hebrew “dag gadol”). Other specimens ranged from the dragons mentioned in the Iliad (which were winged and had legs) to "ketos” (also from Greek mythology), the terrifying being from whose Latinized name (“cetus”) derives the word "cetacean". See J. Boardman, “Very Like a Whale” - Classical Sea Monsters, in Monsters and Demons in the Ancient and Medieval Worlds, in Papers presented in Honor of Edith Porada, Mainz am Rhein 1987, pp. 73-84). In Italy the monster underwent yet further variations: it can be found in Etruscan art on the front of some sarcophagi representing the companion of souls, while among the Romans we find the “Pistrice” (cited by Plinio in Naturalis Historia PLIN., Nat., II 9, 8 and by Virgilio in Eneide: VERG., Aen., III, 427), which appeared in the shape of a stylized hippocampus or a very large monstrous cetacean and evolved into a hideous being with a dragon's head and long webbed fins. During the Middle Ages, the sea monster was the object of new transformations: at this time, it is often winged, the head is stretched like a crocodile, the front legs are often very sharp fins - sometimes real paws - until the image merges with dragons, the typical figures of medieval visionary spirituality widely found throughout Europe (on this topic and much more, see: Baltrušaitis, J., Il Medioevo fantastico. Antichità ed esotismi nell’arte gotica, Gli Adelphi 1997). In Italy during the 15th and 16th centuries, the revival of classicism - representative of the humanistic and Renaissance periods - led to a different reading of these "creatures". Indeed, the sea monster was also to find widespread use as an isolated decorative motif, especially in numerous fountains and sculptures where dolphins or sea monsters were used as a characterizing element linked to water (on this theme see: Chet Van Duzer, Sea Monsters on Medieval and Renaissance Maps, London, The British library, 2013). From the morphological point of view, the "sea monsters" of this period are mostly depicted as hybrid figures, in which the body of a mythological or real being (a hippocampus, a sea snake, a dolphin), is joined to a head with a rather indistinct appearance. It was usually characterized by large upright ears, an elongated snout, sharp teeth and globular, protruding eyes; a complex and indefinite figure, both from the symbolic point of view and from that of its genesis. The work we are examining is placed as a cross between the medieval sea serpent and the Renaissance dolphin, with stylistic features which recall the snake as often used in heraldry (such as the "snake" depicted in the coat of arms of the Visconti - the lords and then dukes of Milan between 1277 and 1447 - and which, for some, may be derived from the representations of the “Pistrice” that swallowed Jonah). In the search for sources, Renaissance cartography and in particular woodcuts should not be neglected. See for example the monsters of Olaus Magnus, from the editions of the “Historia de gentibus septentrionalibus” (“History of the peoples of the north”) and the natural histories of Conrad Gesner, Ulisse...

More information coming soon… Attributed to Provin Serres, a French Academic sculpture and disciple of Mathieu Morin, this large plaster sculpture depicts a boy with his faithful do...

Marble lion white marble France, probably Périgord, 17th century Small marble lion wearing a coat of arms pendant with the engraved date, ...

This elegant sculpture portrays a horseman in the Florentine Renaissance style, inspired by the great equestrian monuments that once adorned Italian piazzas. The finely cast rider, f...

This sculpture has taken on a different character over time as it has weathered and the detailing has softened. Time has given it a pared down, minimalist quality juxtaposing the R...

Exceptional pair of aigles of the 16th century of Italy Superbe pair of wooden sculpted aigles from the Italian Renaissance. Very Fine and delicate sculpture The pair of eagles se...

AFTER A MODEL BY GIAMBOLOGNA (1529–1608)
 Pacing Bull
17th century
 Bronze, on an ebonised wood base H totale 15 x L 11,5 x P 8,2 cm Since antiquity, the bull has been venerated as ...

An elegant marble statue of the pacing stallion after the antique by Alceo Doessena. Inspired by the Horses of San Marco in Venice, this beautifull...

Grotesque Mask (Griffin Head)
Central Italy, 16th century
Carved stone
20 × 29 × 21 cm (excluding the stand) This carved stone mask depicts a stylis...

Cerberus Black painted stone Italy, 17th century Measures: 80 x 69 x 36cm (one head missing) Cerberus, cruel monster, fierce and strange, Through his wide threefold throat barks as a dog Over the multitude immers'd beneath. His eyes glare crimson, black his unctuous beard, His belly large, and claw'd the hands, with which He tears the spirits, flays them, and their limbs Piecemeal disparts (Dante, Inferno, Canto VI). Cerberus figure seated, in his role of ferocious guardian of the underworld; he shows a nervous musculature, an adherent skin which reveals the ribs, long and robust limbs; his heads are broad and the eyes set well apart. Painted in black to amplify his menacing look, the infernal guardian is depicted with his famous attributes, writhing his heads, growling and barking furiously. Cerberus, in Greek mythology, was the monstrous watchdog of the underworld – also known as the “hound of Hades” – preventing the dead from leaving, and making sure that those who entered never left. A child of Typhon and Echidna, he was part of a monstrous family, which included Orthus, the Lernaean Hydra, and the Chimaera as well. Only on three occasions Cerberus was tricked by visitors of Hades: Heracles did it with his strength, Orpheus with his music. In "The Inferno", Dante places Cerberus as the guardian of the third circle of Hell. With his three mouths, Dante saw Cerberus as a beast that was synonymous with the sin of Gluttony. Virgil gets past the monster by throwing mud in his three mouths, temporarily choking him. Very rare are the representations of Cerberus in ancient statuary...