The Sculpture Museum - Catalog - Page 60
MASSIMILIANO SOLDANI-BENZI (1656–1740)
13
Florence, 1st quarter 18th century
Castor and Pollux
After the Antique
Bronze
50 cm (19¾ in.) high
32 cm (12½ in.) wide
18 cm (7 in.) deep
provenance
Private collection, United States of America
Born to an aristocratic cavalry captain from Tuscany, Massimiliano Soldani-Benzi
became one of the finest bronze casters in late seventeenth- and early eighteenthcentury Europe and, along with his contemporary Giovanni Battista Foggini, is
considered the most significant proponent of the Florentine late Baroque style
in sculpture. He first trained in Florence under the painter Volterrano, who
encouraged him to attend the Accademia delle Arti del Disegno, and subsequently
enrolled at the Medicean Academy in Rome in 1678. There he studied under the
medallist Pietro Travani, the painter and sculptor Ciro Ferri, who had been a pupil
of Pietro da Cortona, and the sculptor Ercole Ferrata, who had trained under
both Alessandro Algardi and Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Soldani-Benzi excelled in
the field of medal- and coin-making and soon received commissions from Pope
Innocent XI, Queen Christina of Sweden and prominent members of the papal
court. Whilst perfecting his art in Paris, Soldani-Benzi attracted the attention of
King Louis XIV and his entourage, but, at the behest of Cosimo III de’ Medici, he
returned to Florence in 1682 and was named Director of the Grand-Ducal Mint.
Two years later he was appointed Professor at the Accademia del Disegno where
he had once studied. His workshop was located in the heart of Florence, on the
ground floor of the Galleria degli Uffizi. In his capacity as Director of the Mint,
he oversaw the process of striking coins, but more importantly concentrated
on the casting of large bronze medals, in which his skill gained him substantial
recognition. Towards the end of the 1690s, Soldani-Benzi also began to dedicate
himself to the production of reduced-scale bronzes, such as the present work.
Statuettes after the ancient and modern masters represent an important part of
his production, one that he cultivated steadily from the turn of the eighteenth
century until his death in 1740, and upon which his international renown rests to
this day. By the end of his career, his patrons had included, in addition to those
already mentioned, Gran Principe Ferdinando de’ Medici, Prince Johann Adam
of Liechtenstein, the Elector Palatine, the Duke of Marlborough and the Earl of
Burlington. Especially during the artist’s maturity, the British ‘milordi’ formed a
substantial part of Soldani-Benzi’s patrons, as confirmed by the discovery of four
