Resumen de Il bestiario di Giambologna apre all'orango
The Bestiary of Giambologna opens to the Orang-Utan.
The main object of the study is a terracotta model, brought to light among the anonymous and more neglected materials of a private collection, which may be added to the bestiary of Giambologna. The new piece portrays an "Orang-utan with one hand on its head" and its attribution, in the absence of the documentary sources, is based on stylistic and technical evidence. The work has its greatest affinity with the "River God" held in the Victoria and Albert Museum and, like this, may be dated to between 1575 and 1580. The occasion lends itself to an "excursus" on the iconography and symbology of the monkey and on the zoological complexes promoted by the Medici in the context of their policy of encouraging the natural sciences. Furthermore, it leads to considerations on the presumed assiduous dedication of Fleming sculptor to represtations of antropomorphic primates for the decoration of fountains. The comparisons with figures and animals of acclaimed invention show the precarious nature, on a qualitative and linguistic level, of some attributions of the past (such as that of the bronzes on the fountain in front of the Palazzina del Cavaliere in the Boboli Gardens) or still current (like those of the series of castings that have come, in diaspora, to the Louvre, the Victoria and Albert Museum and to Staatliche Museen in Berlin).
