Hermaphrodite. Giovan Francesco Susini (Florence 1585-1653) School of. Possibly 17th century. Brass alloy with impurities (see related alloy tests)

40.5 x 13 x 15.5 cm

The model for this bronze is housed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and rests on a stunning bronze chest decorated with grotesque figures on the corners. The sculpture is signed and dated:

IO.FR.SUSINI.FLO.F /1639
Giovan Francesco Susini, a Florentine, made it in 1639.

On the front cartouche the motto:

DUPLEX COR UNO IN PECTORE/SAEPE INVENIES./CAVE INVIDIAS.(You will often find a double heart in one chest; fear envy.)

The bronze version was inspired by the Roman sculpture, a copy of a Greek original, discovered in the park of Santa Maria della Vittoria in 1608 and acquired by Cardinal Scipione Borghese. At the Cardinal's commission, a young Bernini added the quilted mattress, which was greatly appreciated by his contemporaries. With the Napoleonic plundering, the marble was sold and is currently in the Louvre.

There are several versions of this beautiful bronze in various museums, including the one in the Louvre attributed to the 17th century Tuscan school.

Another model in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, doubtfully attributed to the author.

At the auction of the Saint Laurent-Berge' collection, one attributed to Giovan Francesco Susini was sold for the sum of 721,000 euros.

Ours, according to the current state of studies, could be a seventeenth-century replica of the subject, certainly of a high standard if compared to the original at the MET.

It has spatinations and a dark brown patina in the intact parts.

Complete with alloy tests carried out at
DIART LABORATORY - Diagnostics for art.
Department of Physics, University of Milan, Via Celoria 16.

Accompanied by a certificate of free circulation:

Bibliography:
Edited by Eike D. Shmidt, Sandro Bellesi, and Riccardo Gennaioli, Shaped by Fire, Sillabe srl, Livorno, 2019, pp. 30-31