The Apollo Belvedere
Italian School
Category
Art / Sculpture
Date
c. 1750 - 1850
Materials
Ivory in gilt-wood frame
Measurements
93 x 58 mm
Place of origin
Rome
Order this imageCollection
The Argory, County Armagh
NT 565571
Summary
Sculpture, ivory; the Apollo Belvedere; Italian, Rome; c. 1750-1850. An ivory relief depicting the antique marble figure of the Apollo Belvedere in the Vatican collections, long considered the most famous sculpture in the world and a model of masculine grace. One of a pair of small ivory reliefs after well-known antique sculptures to be seen in Rome, given by Anne Smyth McGeough Bond (1805–1892) to her son Edward Staples McGeough Bond (1842-1891).
Full description
An ivory relief reproducing the antique statue of the Apollo Belvedere. Apollo, god of the sun, is depicted naked except for a cloak fastened at his right shoulder, and with a strap over his right shoulder for a quiver, not present on this copy. He strides forward, head turned to his left and his left arm and hand outstretched, holding a small section of his bow. Behind the open right hand and by Apollo’s right leg is a support in the form of a tree-trunk, up which a serpent crawls. The relief includes the front of the sculpture’s low circular base, here set upon another base. Set against a white background, and within a gilded wooden frame, with a gilt-bronze crown in the form of a scallop shell. On the backing of the frame, a handwritten inscription recording the gift of the object to Edward Staples Bond (1842-1891) from his mother Anne McGeough Bond (1805-1892). The relief is one of a pair of small ivory copies after Roman antiquities that were given by Mrs McGeough Bond to her son, the other depicting the sculpture of a reclining woman known as the Cleopatra (NT 565569). The Apollo Belvedere is first definitely recorded in Rome in 1509 in the Vatican, to which it had been brought by Pope Julius II (Haskell and Penny 1981, no. 8, fig. 77). By 1523 it was on display in a niche in the Belvedere courtyard in the Vatican, from whence it derives its name. The sculpture quickly came to be regarded as one of the very greatest works of art anywhere in the world, and an epitome of masculine elegance, retaining this hallowed status until well into the nineteenth century. It was regarded by the French as their chief prize, when they expropriated numerous works of art from Italy, following the Treaty of Tolentino in 1797. The Apollo Belvedere reached Paris along with many other antiquities and works of art in July 1798, where it was displayed within a garlanded case in a triumphal parade. In 1800 it was one of the highlights of the new Musée Central des Arts, later to become the Musée Napoléon and, eventually, the Musée du Louvre. In 1815, following Napoleon’s defeat at the Battle of Waterloo, the Apollo Belvedere was returned to Rome and placed back in the Belvedere courtyard. Long regarded as a masterpiece of early Greek sculpture, it is now recognised as a Roman copy of a Greek original, possibly a once famous statue of Apollo by the 4th-century B.C. sculptor Leochares. Innumerable copies of the Apollo Belvedere were made, in a whole range of sizes and materials, including marble and bronze. Ivory copies are however relatively rare. It seems most likely that this copy was made in Rome, most probably in the early nineteenth century, although it is also possible that it and its companion were made in the eighteenth century, when ivories were made in Rome in larger numbers, mainly for sale to Grand Tourists. The best-known carvers of ivories in Rome in the eighteenth century were Giovanni Battista Pozzo (or Pozzi; 1670-1752) and Andrea Pozzi (1718-69). Ivories were quite often signed, often on the back, but it has not been possible to examine the two ivories at the Argory out of their frames. Very little is known about ivory carvers working in nineteenth-century Rome; Giacomo Marchini di Campertogno (1785-c. 1841) was based in Turin for much of his career, but may also have worked in Rome. Three ivories by him in the Victoria & Albert Museum, two of which are signed and dated 1823, reproduce well-known antiquities or more modern works of art (Trusted 2013, nos. 310-12). One unusual feature of the Argory relief is the fact that Apollo is shown without the fig leaf, which was applied over the statue’s genitals as early as the 1530s, and only removed in the 1980s. Most of the many prints and drawings reproducing the Apollo show the figure without the fig leaf; it is possible therefore that the ivory relief was not necessarily directly copies from the statue in the Vatican, but was carved from a print or drawing. It could therefore have been made somewhere else than Rome. The sculpture is one of three small ivory reliefs at the Argory (NT 565569-565571) that were acquired by Anne Smyth McGeough Bond (1805–1892), the second wife of Walter McGeough Bond (1790-1866), who gave them at an unknown date to her son Edward Staples McGeough Bond (1842-1891), the gift being recorded in inscriptions on the backs of each relief. One, depicting Latona and the Fisherman (NT 565570) is an eighteenth-century relief, probably made in Southern Germany. Edward McGeough Bond was the fifth son of Walter and Anne McGeough Bond; he may be seen at the age of six with his father in the portrait by Hugues Fourau (1803-1873) at the Argory (NT 564842). Edward McGeough Bond subsequently served in the Army, becoming a Captain in the Grenadier Guards. Jeremy Warren December 2022
Provenance
Anne Smyth McGeough Bond (1805–1892); given to her son Edward Staples McGeough Bond (1842-1891); by descent; Walter McGeough Bond (1908-86), by whom given to the National Trust in 1979.
Marks and inscriptions
On back, handwritten inscription: Edward S Bond /from his loving mother / A McG Bond
Makers and roles
Italian School, sculptor
References
Haskell and Penny 1981: Francis Haskell and Nicholas Penny, Taste and the Antique, The Lure of Classical Sculpture 1500 - 1900, New Haven and London, 1981, no. 8, fig. 77 Trusted 2013: Marjorie Trusted, Baroque & Later Ivories, Victoria & Albert Museum, London, 2013