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Description: | Collection of bronze sculptures, mostly forming part of the Torrie Collection. This includes some high quality works by prominent European sculptors of the 16th to 18th centuries, as well as more minor works, such as small imitation classical bronzes and bronze vases. There are also several bronze busts distributed throughout the University collections including one of Gerard Balwin Brown (1849-1932), the first occupant of the Chair of Fine Art and one of geologist, Sir Archibald Geikie. A small number of bronze sculptures can also be found in various University Departments.
The two outstanding sculptures of the Torrie Collection group are the Ecorché Horse, attributed to Giambologna (1529-1608), and the group of “Cain and Abel” dated, 1612, by Adriaen de Vries. Giambologna was a Flemish sculptor, active in Italy. He settled in Florence under the patronage of the Medici dukes, eventually becoming their court sculptor. His style, which combined the formal lessons of Michelangelo with the elegance of Greco-Roman sculpture, was disseminated in the form of small bronze reproductions of his masterworks, which he composed independently as interior ornaments. The “Anatomical Figure of a Horse (Ecorché)” is a version of a bronze horse formerly in the Villa Mattei in Rome.
Adriaen de Vries was a Dutch sculptor, active in Italy and central Europe. He is particularly associated with the court of Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor, in Prague, to which he carried the sophisticated style of Giambologna, with whom he had worked while in Florence. The group of “Cain and Abel” is based on a larger work by Giambologna, held in the V.&A., and is one of only three works by De Vries in Britain.
This collection also includes works by François Duquesnoy, François Marie Poncet, Massimiliano Soldani and a bronze boar attributed to Antonio Susini. Also included are a number of fine bronzes which have not been attributed and three rare, reduced copies of bronze vases from the workshops of Giovanni Zoffoli. Most of these works date from the 17th and 18th centuries. | Subjects: | Figures; Fine Art; Ecorchés; Sculptures; Horses; Vases; Bronzes; Busts. | Source: | University of Edinburgh | Address: | Old College, South Bridge,
EH8 9YL | Creator: | Sir James Erskine of Torrie. | Identifier: | http://hdl.handle.net/10683/305... | Go to resource |
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