Mercury, god of speed, travellers and commerce
after Giambologna (Douai 1529 - Florence 1608)
Category
Art / Sculpture
Date
c. 1850 - 1900
Materials
Bronze
Measurements
890 mm (H)
Place of origin
Paris
Order this imageCollection
Cragside, Northumberland
NT 1231006
Summary
Sculpture, bronze; Mercury, the god of travellers; after Giambologna (Giovanni Bologna, 1529-1608); French, c. 1850-1900. A bronze statuette of the god Mercury, depicted flying through the air, his left foot balanced on a stream of wind emerging from the mouth of a zephyr or wind god. This iconic image is Giambologna’s most famous sculpture and was copied innumerable times. Here it is paired with a figure of Fortune.
Full description
A bronze statuette of Mercury, the god of speed, commerce and travellers. Mercury is depicted naked except for his hat of a type known as petasos, to which are attached small wings. A small wing also grows out of each of Mercury’s ankles. He flies through the air, his left foot balanced on a stream of wind emerging from the mouth of a zephyr (wind god), his right leg raised behind him, his left hand cradling his caduceus or herald’s wand, formed from a winged staff around which are entwined two serpents. He points the finger of his raised right hand into the air, towards the heavens. A fig leaf hides Mercury’s genitals. The inscription ‘J Boulogne’ is incised into the throat of the zephyr. Mounted on a circular bronze base, with moulded sides, which is in turn mounted upon a yellow marble socle, the central stem of which is ringed by a bronze frieze featuring two scenes, one of a putto sculpting a portrait bust surrounded by instruments of the arts, the other with another putto drawing a torso, derived from designs by Carle van Loo (1705-1765). A pair to a figure of Fortuna, goddess of Chance (NT 1231007). Giambologna’s Mercury is an iconic work of art. Even if most people today are unlikely to be aware of its origins and its author, it is nevertheless probably the only Renaissance bronze sculpture still instantly recognizable as a composition, owing to its widespread use as a symbol for communication, for example in stamps and company logos. It is Giambologna’s most famous work, the one which sealed his professional success at the Medici court in Florence. The Mercury is also the summation of Giambologna’s preoccupation as a modeller with creating sculpted figures built around a strong vertical axis. It is a masterpiece of technological achievement, the bronze figure balanced, apparently effortlessly, on a single point, making it appear as if Mercury is bursting upwards as he hurtles through the air. Between the early 1560s and the late 1580s Giambologna made five slightly varied versions of this extraordinary figure, knowledge of which was further disseminated through innumerable copies which continue to be made to this day. The great majority of copies, notably almost all the many made in nineteenth-century foundries, were based on the life-size bronze Mercury made by Giambologna around 1580 and sent from Florence sent to the Villa Medici in Rome, where it was part of a fountain in the gardens, remaining in Rome until its return to Florence in 1780. Today it is in the Museo Nazionale del Bargello. This is one of two examples of the Mercury at Cragside. Both are mass-produced products of French foundries and were made in the second half of the nineteenth century, however the other version (NT 1228445) is slightly cruder as a cast. It can well be imagined that Sir William Armstrong, whose businesses depended on technical innovation and making maximum use of the properties of metals, might have especially admired this composition and the way in which the heavy bronze figure balances perfectly on a single point. The pairing of Mercury with a figure of Fortuna, the goddess of chance, is found mainly in the nineteenth century, but occasionally earlier. In the 1670s, full-size lead figures of Mercury and Fortune after Giambologna were installed in the gardens at Ham House (for modern copies at Ham, NT 1140391-92). Like Mercury, Fortune is essentially a creature of the air, blown hither and thither, and she was often depicted balancing on a sphere, representing the world. Some of the nineteenth-century pairings use Giambologna’s own model for the Fortuna, but there are also frequent instances of models by other sculptors, as in the example at Cragside. The bronze reliefs that adorn the socles of the Mercury and Fortuna are allegories of sculpture and drawing, showing small boys (putti) engaged in these activities. They are distantly derived from a set of four celebrated paintings of Allegories of the Arts made by Carle van Loo (1705-65) for the great patron Madame de Pompadour (Xavier Salmon, ed, Madame de Pompadour et les Arts, exh. cat., Musées nationaux de Versailles et de Trianon, Paris 2002, nos. 51-54), which depict young children engaged in the arts of painting, sculpture, architecture and music. The main design on the bronze reliefs on the Cragside bronzes is derived from the allegory of sculpture. Van Loo's paintings were much copied and also reproduced in the form of prints, so the images were easily accessible. The pairing of Mercury and Fortuna on these distinctive socles is not uncommon, with examples appearing relatively frequently on the art market (for example, Bonham’s Edinburgh, 22 February 2017, lot 285). There are often however variations in the female companion figures, and in the attributes carried by both Mercury and Fortuna. Jeremy Warren March 2022
Provenance
Bequeathed to the National Trust by Mrs Veronica Mary Gibbs. Transferred to Cragside in June 1999.
Marks and inscriptions
On throat of zephyr:: J Bologne
Makers and roles
after Giambologna (Douai 1529 - Florence 1608), sculptor
References
Avery and Radcliffe 1978: Charles Avery and Anthony Radcliffe, Giambologna, 1529-1608: sculptor to the Medici, exh.cat. venues: Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh, Victoria & Albert Museum, London, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna 1978, nos. 34-35 Avery 1987: Charles Avery, Giambologna, The Complete Sculpture, Oxford 1987, pp. 21-23, cat. 34, Plates 14,15,121,124, 238.