SOLDANI BENZI, Massimiliano

Soldani Benzi executed this statue after Michelangelo’s marble Bacchus in the Bargello.

Soldani Benzi executed a series of nine, and then a series of twelve bronze casts of antique marble busts of Roman emperors, philosophers and famous women as decoration for the Liechtenstein princely palaces. The bust shown on the picture belongs to the series of nine.

The name is inscribed on the cartouche on the socle.

Soldani Benzi executed a series of nine, and then a series of twelve bronze casts of antique marble busts of Roman emperors, philosophers and famous women as decoration for the Liechtenstein princely palaces. The bust shown on the picture belongs to the series of nine.

The name is inscribed on the cartouche on the socle.

Soldani Benzi executed a series of nine, and then a series of twelve bronze casts of antique marble busts of Roman emperors, philosophers and famous women as decoration for the Liechtenstein princely palaces. The bust shown on the picture belongs to the series of nine.

The name is inscribed on the cartouche on the socle.

Soldani Benzi executed a series of nine, and then a series of twelve bronze casts of antique marble busts of Roman emperors, philosophers and famous women as decoration for the Liechtenstein princely palaces. The bust shown on the picture belongs to the series of nine.

The name is inscribed on the cartouche on the socle.

Soldani Benzi executed a series of nine, and then a series of twelve bronze casts of antique marble busts of Roman emperors, philosophers and famous women as decoration for the Liechtenstein princely palaces. The bust shown on the picture belongs to the series of nine.

The name is inscribed on the cartouche on the socle.

Soldani Benzi executed a series of nine, and then a series of twelve bronze casts of antique marble busts of Roman emperors, philosophers and famous women as decoration for the Liechtenstein princely palaces. The bust shown on the picture belongs to the series of twelve.

Soldani Benzi executed a series of nine, and then a series of twelve bronze casts of antique marble busts of Roman emperors, philosophers and famous women as decoration for the Liechtenstein princely palaces. The bust shown on the picture belongs to the series of nine.

The name is inscribed on the cartouche on the socle.

Soldani Benzi executed a series of nine, and then a series of twelve bronze casts of antique marble busts of Roman emperors, philosophers and famous women as decoration for the Liechtenstein princely palaces. The bust shown on the picture belongs to the series of nine.

The name is inscribed on the cartouche on the socle.

The Anima Beata and Anima Dannata are two marble busts by Gianlorenzo Bernini, dated 1619, representing the redeemed and the condemned soul. Soldani Benzi’s bronze casts are based on Bernini’s works.

The Anima Beata and Anima Dannata are two marble busts by Gianlorenzo Bernini, dated 1619, representing the redeemed and the condemned soul. Soldani Benzi’s bronze casts are based on Bernini’s works.

The unusual iconography of this bronze relief is not based on the Gospel: Christ, praying throughout the night on the Mount of Olives, faints into the arms of two angels.

Soldani Benzi brought the finesse of a medalist to all his works. Even a relatively early work like the Death of St Francis Xavier reveals a perfect command of the High Baroque idiom in its adaptation of Cafà’s St Rose of Lima.

The principal literary source for this sculpture is Ovid’s Metamorphoses, the most popular work of classical literature in the Italian Renaissance.

Diana’s nymphs were expected to be as chaste as the goddess herself. One of them, Callisto, was seduced by Jupiter who first disguised himself as Diana in order to gain the nymphs presence. In Diana and Callisto, the unfortunate Callisto is shown being stripped by her companions at the command of the chaste goddess Diana to reveal her pregnancy.

Soldani’s decorative ewers are peerless in their fusion of abstract and more naturalistic forms. Ewers of this sort had no practical function and were descended from the silver and gold vases displayed on sixteenth-century buffets. The shape of Soldani’s ewers is dictated by a heady combination of naturalistic forms, in this case Amphitrite with a Nereid, dolphins and other marine attendants (as well as some stray fauns). This figural profusion is matched by the exceptional delicacy of the surface finish which helped to create one of the supreme achievements of late Baroque decorative art.

This is a bronze copy of a marble figure, which is a second-century copy of a bronze original from the first century BC. The marble statue was rediscovered in Rome in the 1530s, and was transferred to Florence to the Medici collection. It was set up in the Tribuna of the Uffizi Gallery.

The companion-piece of this relief is Time Reveals the Truth.

The elaborate structure of the reliquary was inspired by the story of St Alexius, who fled his home the day of his wedding, then took a vote of chastity; he later returned to his father’s abode to take refuge, but died under a staircase. The frame and other elements of gilded copper were made by Pietro Motti (active in Florence, 1690-1697).

This bronze statue belongs to the twelve sculptures that electress palatine Anna Maria Luisa de’ Medici commissioned from various Florentine sculptors between 1722 and 1725 for her apartment in Palazzo Pitti, Florence. Soldani Benzi made a wax model of the composition in 1725 and the present version was cast later in 1730-37.

Jephthah led the Israelites in battle against Ammon and, after defeating the Ammonites, fulfilled a rash vow of his, by sacrificing his daughter.

Unlike painted treatment of the subject, in which the protagonists are surrounded by soldiers and other figures, Soldani Benzi’s focuses on the basic elements of the story.

The companion-piece of this relief is Peace Embraces Justice.

This statue was made after Giambologna’s marble in the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, which was designed for the wedding of Francesco de’ Medici as a companion piece to Michelangelo’s Victory.

This vase of black touchstone (black marble of Belgium) is one of a group of four, made for Grand Prince Ferdinando between 1689 and 1693. The handles are formed by a putto cast in bronze and gilded, which embraces a swan made of a plate of silver. The elegant naturalism of the foliage on the top of the urn and at the four corners of the base is typical of Soldani Benzi’s style.

The handles are formed by a putto cast in bronze and gilded, which embraces a swan made of a plate of silver.