{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O106665"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O106665/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2016JB7016/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2016JB7016/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2016JB7016","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AE5169","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2016JB6651","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2016JB7008","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2016JB7017","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2016JB7018","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2018KW8563","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2018KW8562","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2024NV7284","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2024NV7285","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2024NV7280","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2024NV7281","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O106665/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O106665","accessionNumber":"A.117-1910","objectType":"Statuette","titles":[{"title":"Adonis with his Dog and a Dead Boar","type":""}],"summaryDescription":"The boy, seated on a log with his head resting on his left arm, is flanked by a faithful dog, while under his right foot lies a prostrate boar, presumably dead. The presence of this boar has long suggested that this is a representation of Meleager killing the Calydonian boar. However, this interpretation was challenged by some scholars who recognised the beautiful Adonis, who in the myth was killed by a wild boar. Although the boar appears in both iconographies, it seems that this group represents Adonis rather than Meleager. This bronze, in fact, may be the companion piece to another statuette of Venus and Cupid (A.116-1910), attributed to the workshop of Francesco Fanelli, which has very similar dimensions, the same type of casting and similar compositions and proportions of the figures. There are also engravings from this period, such as the frontispiece of Adonis by Giovan Battista Marino, in which Adonis appears in a similar position.  \r\nThe attribution of this bronze has not always been clear, Bode and Planiscig suggested a 15th-century Paduan origin, and Maclagan proposed Giovanni Bandini, on the basis of Borghini's description of Bandini's marble Adonis (an idea that is definitely outdated). The name Fanelli was first suggested by Anthony Radcliffe (Larsson 1992, p. 38).\r\nThe group is an indirect lost wax cast. The models of the boar and the dog are the same as in other Fanelli bronzes. The casting is very thin, too thin, so that there are various casting flaws in the rocky base, under the lying boar, around Adonis’ left foot and on his legs, in the head, neck and between the legs of the dog. These, in adition to the rough finish of the surface, probably indicate that the bronze was cast after a prototype by Fanelli. The attribution of the model to Fanelli is based on style: the boar, the dog, certain facial and hair details are found in other Fanelli bronzes, and the way the wax is worked before casting is always the same. Among the many known variations is one in the Metropolitan Museum, New York (41.100.77); one in the Frick Collection, New York (1916.2.29). Some smaller versions are in the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore (54.444) and in the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm (NMSk 305). \nThese bronzes all derived from the same composition, but all show minor variations, making each of them a unique cast. This practice is typical of the bronzes coming from the workshop of Francesco Fanelli who specialized in small bronzes made as collectable items. Like most sculptors of his time, Fanelli used the indirect lost wax technique for casting his bronzes which allowed him to keep the original model and to create replicas. However, these were never identical to another, and each had its own characteristics.\r\nFrancesco Fanelli was an Italian sculptor born in Florence on 17 December 1577. In the early years of the 17th century, he was in Genoa where he executed bronzes as well as large-scale marble sculptures, most probably with the assistance of his sons who pursued the same career as their father. Moving to England in 1632, Francesco became court sculptor to Charles I and worked for several private English patrons, among them the Duke of Newcastle. He was last recorded in 1641.  \r\nSmall bronzes of different subjects were collected in Europe from the early Renaissance. Those collected in 17th century Britain were almost all secular subjects and mainly related to mythology themes. Arranged on shelves, consoles or tables, these small bronzes were displayed in the collectors' studios, rooms or galleries containing other works of art, such as paintings, sculptures or cabinets. Depending on the subject and size of the bronzes, collectors were delighted to view them from different angles, often admiring their shine when bathed in light.  \r\nIn addition to King Charles I and the Duke of Newcastle, Fanelli received other commissions from wealthy people, even if only few are recorded in the documents. Fanelli’s bronzes had a long lasting legacy. Despite the absence of information, it is believed that he bequeathed his models to his workshop as hundreds of bronzes made from those models were likely cast after his death and lack the refinement of those made by Fanelli himself. \r\nIn the 18th century, collectors' interest in bronzes was supplemented by their taste for porcelain. Some of Fanelli's models were then translated into this material, sometimes even polychromed. ","physicalDescription":"Bronze statuette of Adonis. He is depicted seated in a short tunic on a rock, sleeping with his head lying on his left hand; his right foot rests on the dead body of a boar, and a dog sits watching beside him. The base represents uneven ground.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Fanelli, Francesco","id":"A8376"},"association":{"text":"workshop of","id":"x28708"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"Bronze","id":"AAT10957"}],"techniques":[{"text":"casting","id":"AAT53104"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Bronze, lost-wax casting.","categories":[{"text":"Sculpture","id":"THES48896"},{"text":"Myths & Legends","id":"THES49005"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"SCP","id":"THES48600"},"images":["2016JB7016","2006AE5169","2016JB6651","2016JB7008","2016JB7017","2016JB7018","2018KW8563","2018KW8562","2024NV7284","2024NV7285","2024NV7280","2024NV7281"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"003","id":"THES409055"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Statuette","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"England","id":"x28826"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""},{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1640-1650","earliest":"1640-01-01","latest":"1650-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"From the Salting Bequest","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Width","value":"32.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"11","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"19.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"15","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"Base ","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"13","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"Base ","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"Dimensions were taken by SCP on 27.10.14 for <b>Bronze Zoo: A Sculptural Menagerie </b>","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"From the Salting bequest.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Statuette, bronze, Adonis with his Dog and a Dead Boar, workshop of Francesco Fanelli (1577-after 1641), England (London), 1640-1650.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Charles Avery,<i> Renaissance and Baroque Bronzes from the Alexis Gregory Collection</i>, Cambridge 1996, pp. 72-73. "},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Lars Olof Larsson, <i>Nationalmuseum, Stockholm. European Bronzes 1450-1700,</i> Stocholm 1992, p. 38. "},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"John Pope-Hennessy, Anthony Radcliffe, <i>The Frick Collection, an illustrated catalogue</i>, New York 1970, vol. 4, pp. 212-16. "},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Hans Robert Weihrauch,<i> Europäische Bronzestatuetten. 15-18 Jahrhundert</i>, Braunshweig 1967, pp. 187-88.  "},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"John Pope-Hennessy, <i>Catalogue of Italian Sculpture in the Victoria & Albert Museum</i>, London 1964, p. 238, n. 11.  "},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Herbert Keutner, ‘Italienische Kleinbronzen’, <i>Kunstchronik</i>, 15, 1962, p. 173."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"<i>Italian bronze statuettes. An exhibition organized by the Arts Council of Great Britain with the Italian Ministry of Education and the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam</i>, catalogue of the exhibition (London, Victoria & Albert Museum, 2th July– 1st October 1961), London 1961, cat. 82."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"John Pope-Hennessy, ‘Some Bronze Statuette by Francesco Fanelli’, <i>The Burlington Magazine</i>, 95, 1953, pp. 156-62.  "},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Leo Planiscig, <i>Andrea Riccio</i>, Vienna, 1927, p. 109. "},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Eric Robert Dalrymple Maclagan, ‘Notes on some sixteenth and seventeenth century Italian sculpture’, <i>The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs</i>, 36, 1920, pp. 234-245. "},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"<i>List of Works of Art Acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum (Department of Architecture and Sculpture): Salting Bequest (A.  70 to A. 1029-1910), Murray Bequest (A. 1030 to A. 1096-1910)</i>, London 1916, p. 9."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Wilhelm von Bode, <i>Bronzes of the Renaissance: The Pierpont Morgan Collection</i>, Paris 1910, vol. II, p. 19. "}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[{"text":"Meleager","id":"N180"},{"text":"Adonis","id":"N159"}],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"wild boar","id":"x30064"},{"text":"dog (animal)","id":"x30186"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["A.117-1910"],"accessionNumberNum":"117","accessionNumberPrefix":"A","accessionYear":1910,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2021MU9405"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-11-13","recordCreationDate":"2004-10-21","availableToBook":true}}