Allegories of Summer and Autumn

Object belonging

One's own

Category

Bronze sculpture

City

Rome

Location

Museo Nazionale del Palazzo di Venezia

Specific location

Room 17

Inventory

PV 10798-99

Material and technique

Bronze, natural dark patina, traces of lacquer, lost-wax casting

Author

Venetian School

Dating

Early 17th century

Dimensions

18.7 x 7 x 4.5 (Autumn); 18.7 x 6 x 4.5 (Summer)

Origin

Auriti Collection (1963)

Image copyright

SSPSAE e per il Polo Museale della città di Roma

Short description

The two statuettes had previously been identified as Allegories of Autumn and Spring. But a comparison with Alessandro Vittoria’s Allegories of the Seasons at Villa Pisani in Montagna, Padua, which are markedly different but share the same attributes, led to the recognition of the bronzes as Autumn, with a grape vine, and Summer, holding a piece of fruit. The statues were initially attributed to Girolamo Campagna, under the influence of Alessandro Vittoria, and were then classified as Venetian works of the early 17th century, with allusions to the style and technique of the Berlin Museums Four Evangelists, once attributed to Alessandro Vittoria. Both the Allegories recall the style of the Rubini family.

Pietro Cannata

Bibliography

L. Planiscig, La Collezione Giacinto Auriti, Vienna 1931, nos. 29-30; A. Santangelo, Museo di Palazzo Venezia. La Collezione Auriti, Rome 1964, p. 24.