A Roman chariot or biga
after Francesco Antonio Franzoni (1734 - 1818)
Category
Art / Sculpture
Date
c. 1800 - 1850
Materials
Bronze, Marble
Measurements
248 x 165 mm; 298 mm (L)
Place of origin
Rome
Order this imageCollection
The Argory, County Armagh
NT 565233
Summary
Sculpture, bronze; a biga; Italy, Rome, partly after Francesco Antonio Franzoni (1734-1818); c. 1800-1850. A bronze group depicting a Roman biga, a two-horse chariot being driven by two horses, the charioteerer cracking his whip, mounted on a marble base with bronze feet. A small bronze reduction of a much-restored large-scale marble sculpture in the Vatican Museums in Rome.
Full description
A bronze group depicting a biga, a type of small Roman chariot drawn by two horses. The two horses rear up as they are driven on by the charioteer, who stands in his car and wields a whip. The chariot is decorated with foliate scrolling. Mounted on a rectangular giallo antico base, which is set on four bronze feet in the form of lions’ paws. The marble sculpture of which this is a small bronze reduction is the central feature of the Sala della Biga or 'Hall of the Chariot' in the Vatican Museums. The room was created in 1786 as part of works to form the Museo Pio-Clementino, and contains sculptures relating to ancient Roman games and sports. At its centre is the marble biga, which was made by Francesco Antonio Franzoni in 1788, using both ancient elements and substantial modern restorations. The body of the chariot is Roman, the exterior decoration with poppies and ears of wheat comparable with other works from the Augustan period (c. 43 B.C. – 18 A.D.). It was used as the episcopal throne in the church of San Marco in Rome from at least 1516, remaining in the church until 1771 when it was given to Pope Clement XIV. Franzoni created the ensemble using the chariot car and the right-hand horse, which is also ancient, but then had to create an entirely new second horse. The small bronze reduction at the Argory is a fairly accurate copy of the large marble, except for the addition of the figure of the charioteer, which replaces the tapered column within the chariot known as the Agyieus, the symbolic image of Apollo Agyieus, protector of the streets. Also omitted are the marble supports under the horses which are not required for a small bronze version. The marble base of the bronze version broadly corresponds to the large rectangular marble terrasse, on which the Vatican group is placed. The addition of the figure of the charioteer turns the small bronze into a much more dynamic composition. The Vatican biga was evidently a popular exhibit in the nineteenth century and it was frequently reproduced in the form of small bronze reductions, made in foundries in Rome and in Naples. Copies appear frequently on the art market, including one made in the late nineteenth-century Neapolitan workshops of Giorgio Sommer (Curated Auctions, London, 28 June 2022, lot 79), which has a base with similar separately-cast lions’ paw feet. The example at the Argory may date from earlier in the nineteenth century. Jeremy Warren September 2022
Provenance
By descent to Walter McGeough Bond (1908-86), by whom given to the National Trust in 1979.
Makers and roles
after Francesco Antonio Franzoni (1734 - 1818), sculptor