Fine patinated bronze of Mars or the “Executioner,” after Massimiliano Soldani Benzi (1656-1740). The sculpture depicts a striding muscular figure – nude and heroic, holding a severed head. The head is often identified to be that of John the Baptist.
It has been suggested that Giambolgna’s Mars originally held a severed head, which is has been lost from most surviving examples – and that the Soldani-Benzi cast is a close representation of the lost original. In “Giambologna: The Complete Sculpture” the Scholar, Charles Avery discusses such a claim (1987).
The contrary view is that Soldani’s version draws from Giambologna’s (1529-1608) “Mars”, with the addition of the Baptist’s severed head, heightening all things baroque.
This example is a late 18th or early 19th-century copy. Dark patination.
This sculpture views well in the round and is certainly not to be overlooked.
Antique ID Number (AIDN): SA1203973
Dateline of this antique is 1900
Height is 40cm (15.7inches)
Width is 13cm (5.1inches)
Depth is 10cm (3.9inches)
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