Missing Monkeys Summary

 

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Two small bronze monkeys have been discovered in an auction in England and the evidence suggests they could well be by the famous Flemish sculptor Giovanni Bologna, known as Giambologna (1529-1608) from the fountain of Samson and a Philistine.

This intriguing story begins in the Victoria & Albert Museum which contains Giambologna’s great marble statue of Samson and a Philistine given to our Prince of Wales (later Charles 1) in 1623 when he was in Madrid looking (unsuccessfully) for a royal Spanish bride. The statue was first set up on a fountain in Florence in 1569 but the fountain including the statue was sent to Spain in 1601 as a gift from the Medici to the Duke of Lerma. The fountain remains in the beautiful gardens of Aranjuez, south of Madrid. Today the four niches on the fountain are empty.

A pen and wash drawing of the fountain in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence, the authenticity of which has never been doubted, shows the niches contained seated monkeys, two of which are visible in the drawing and shown to be in two poses. Research has revealed information indicating these monkeys could well be two of those four missing monkeys.

These monkeys fit the niche in respect of height, width and depth.

The arm and hand positions of the monkey seen to the left of the Uffizi drawing matches the arm and hand position of these two monkeys.

The Uffizi drawing shows that the legs of the two monkeys are in two positions. These two monkeys do match the leg position of the right hand monkey in the drawing.

The right arm and finger pointing up relate closely to Giambologna’s famous Mercury.

The monkeys belong to the fountain in as much as the right arm and finger could be pointing up to the marble Samson and a Philistine and the left hand could be cupped to catch water falling from the basin above.

These two monkeys are identical in pose but the Uffizi drawing shows the missing monkeys are in two poses. There is a precedent for this configuration. The Neptune Fountain by Giambologna has a set of four boys holding dolphins. These are arranged in two pairs of two poses and alternating at each corner. The missing monkeys could well be made the same way, namely two pairs, two poses and alternating in each niche.

The monkeys are in different weathered states, one matt and one shiny, consistent with being in different positions around the fountain.

There are traits of Giambologna, manicured fingernails, hammered finish, impassive expression.

X-radiographs taken at Tower of London reveal plugs and use of square core pins (chaplets), evidence of lost wax casting.

The metal is a gun metal dated to the 16th/17th century. Giambologna used gun metal.

The metal is unrefined and has a high lead content. Many of Giambologna’s small bronzes are leaded bronzes.

The monkeys are lifelike. Bronze birds in the Bargello Museum, Florence, attributed to Giambologna are lifelike.

The monkeys are not fully worked up, there would be no need if they were designed for a fountain upon which they would be viewed at a distance.

There would appear to be a similarity in the features of these monkeys with the head of a carved stone monkey on the impressive portal of the Casino Medicio at San Marco. The fountain of Samson and a Philistine was in a courtyard inside.

The monkey in the Louvre, attributed to Giambologna, is too deep to fit the niche. The quality is for debate. The form is not lifelike, the fur is not realistic and the pose does not match the poses of the monkeys in the Uffizi drawing, which after all, is the only evidence for monkeys being in the niches.

NOTE: For those who may wish to see a summary of the facts, Click here.

 

 

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