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Rape of a Sabine Woman
Workshop of: Ferdinando Tacca (Italian, 1619–1686)
After: Giambologna (Jean Boulogne) (Flemish (worked in Italy), 1529–1608)
After: Giambologna (Jean Boulogne) (Flemish (worked in Italy), 1529–1608)
Italian (Florence)
mid-17th century
Medium/Technique
Metal; bronze
Dimensions
Overall: 101 x 45.7 x 33 cm (39 3/4 x 18 x 13 in.)
Credit Line
Bequest of William A. Coolidge
Accession Number1993.49
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsSculpture
This bronze relates to one of Giambologna's most famous works, a large marble Rape of a Sabine in Florence. That sculpture shows a young man lifting a woman as an older man crouches below. Here, the group includes only two figures, but displays a similar balletic grace. It is a work meant to be seen from all angles. The scale of the bronze-neither small statuette nor monumental group-and its fine workmanship point to the workshop of Ferdinando Tacca, who inherited Giambologna's models and studio from his father, Pietro Tacca, a member of Giambologna's workshop.
DescriptionRoman with furrowed forehead and knitted brow, with pin-point pupils and incised irises. Sabine woman with hair curled off forehead in regular pattern, like a neat coiffure.
ProvenanceDuke Gaetano Saraceni, Rome. Duc de Talleyrand (perhaps Napoleon Louis von Sagan de Talleyrand Perigord, b. 1811 - d. 1898), Paris. 1966, Renato Bacchi, Milan; 1966, sold by Bacchi to Leopold Blumka and Rosenberg and Stiebel, New York; about 1966/1967, sold by Rosenberg and Stiebel to William Appleton Coolidge (b. 1901 - d. 1992), Topsfield and Cambridge, MA; 1993, bequest of William Appleton Coolidge to the MFA. (Accession Date: January 27, 1993)