Technical characteristics of bronze statuettes from the workshop of Antonio and Giovanni Francesco Susini

• Autores: Dylan Smith
• Localización: The Renaissance Workshop / David Saunders (ed. lit.), Marika Spring (ed. lit.), Andrew Meek (ed. lit.), 2013, ISBN 978-1-904982-93-7, págs. 29-41
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • This paper considers the copper alloys and casting techniques of statuettes produced by three generations of sculptors in a Renaissance workshop. In the late sixteenth century, the Flemish artist Jean Boulogne, known as Giambologna, established an influential workshop in Florence that created monumental sculpture as well as highly refined statuettes. His small bronzes were executed by skilled assistants, notably Antonio Susini, who established an independent workshop in the early seventeenth century. Antonio continued to cast many of Giambologna's designs while also creating his own original statuettes. Giovanni Francesco Susini trained in his uncle's workshop, which he inherited after Antonio's death. The younger Susini created new statuettes while continuing to cast designs by Giambologna and his uncle until the middle of the seventeenth century.

    Although traditional art historical methods have resolved certain questions regarding attribution, technical investigation has provided new insight into this complex group of closely related statuettes. In his study, well-attributed works by each artist were examined in various museums and private collections, as well as selection of undocumented works. The primary methods used were careful visual examination and portable X-ray fluorescence analysis (XRF), complemented by X-radiography of selected works.

    This study identified certain characteristic differences in the workshop practices of the three artists. Giambologna's workshop cast statuettes in a single pour and consistently used bronze. A greater variety of alloys was found in works by Gianfrancesco, including many distinguished by an elevated trace of antimony and/or deliberately added lead. He also used a distinctive multi-stage casting technique for many of his own designs, an approach that appears to have been inherited from his uncle Antonio. In his method, a statuette was cast in parts and then joined by flow-welding in an effort to obtain a more highly finished surface. Analysis of documented works by Antonio also identified alloys that are distinct from those used by either Giambologna or Gianfrancesco. These alloys not only aid in attribution to Antonio, but also suggest the period in which certain statuettes were produced. However, questions remain about the relationship between alloy and attribution, as similar alloys are found in some of the documented works by the three artists.