The Sculpture Museum - Catalog - Page 83
from Ravenna transferred to the heart of his empire in Aachen, where he sought
to emulate the layout of Rome’s Campus Lateranensis, the square outside today’s
Lateran basilica in which the Marcus Aurelius then stood. In 1538, the monument
was moved to the Capitoline Hill – the seat of Rome’s civic government – and the
celebrated Michelangelo was commissioned to design its base, which supports the
statue to this day. Interestingly, the bronze model of the Capitoline Marcus Aurelius
made in 1465 by the illustrious Florentine master Filarete (dedicated to Piero de’
Medici) is considered to be the first Renaissance bronze after the Antique (now
Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Dresden).
With its renewed interest in Greek and Roman antiquity, the age of the
Grand Tour saw a rebirth in the collecting of models after ancient statuary, as
had once been the case at the courts of Renaissance Italy, with the Capitoline’s
Marcus Aurelius becoming one of the finest and most sought-after subjects. Grand
Tourists from the highest echelons of society would seek models after the greatest
antiquities from the most renowned artists of the day, and treasure them as
mementos of their travels and symbols of their learning and social standing. The
activity of Prussian master bronziers Hopfgarten and Jollage represents a prime
example of this tradition.
The commissions Hopfgarten and Jollage received ranged from models after
the Antique to casts of contemporary masterpieces, from diplomatic gifts to
decorative furnishings. Incredibly successful and prolific, their workshop steadily
continued its activity after the death of Jollage, which took place in September
1837. On this occasion, an inventory was drawn up at Via dei Due Macelli, from
which we learn of an unfinished model of the Marcus Aurelius, consisting of the
horse alone and measuring 33 cm high, and of finished casts of the monument
62 cm high (Teolato 2016, p. 22, nn. 48, 51), dimensions that correspond closely
with the present bronze’s. Notably, the inventory compiled upon Hopfgarten’s
death in October 1860 reveals the studio’s production had shifted in the space of
twenty years towards a certain number of new models after the Antique and more
decorative compositions, many in the Pompeian style, yet the Marcus Aurelius
remained (Teolato 2016, p. 14) – a sign of its everlasting fascination and appeal.
Characteristic of Hopfgarten in this beautifully preserved bronze are the
smooth texture of the surface, the carefully picked-out anatomical details and the
crisp quality of the drapery. A closely comparable example is the bronze Modesty,
also after an antique model, now in the Metropolitan Museum, New York.
related literature
C. Teolato, Hopfgarten and Jollage Rediscovered: Two Berlin Bronzists in Napoleonic and
Restoration Rome, Rome, 2016
