"living Christ" Bronze By Antonio Susini And Atelier, On A 16th Century Processional Cross.

"Cristo Vivo" in bronze applied on a Tuscan processional cross from the mid-16th century decorated with gold leaf and phytoform and vegetal motifs.

Antonio Susini (Florence 1558- 1624) and Atelier.

Florence, early seventeenth century.

Bronzue sculture 19cm x 19cm. Cross 46 x 29 cm.

We attach a certificate of authenticity to the sale.

 The production of small crucifixes for private devotion and the ornamentation of altars in the artistic production of Antonio Susini has remained on the sidelines in studies on the artist, although attested by the sources and often the result of illustrious commissions, increased when the Medici established custom of sending them as diplomatic gifts - in which collaborators and students specialized in bronze working (Adrian De Vries, Antonio Susini, Gasparo Mola, Egidio Leggi and Pietro Tacca) took part - has recently been the subject of specific critical attention, received significantly also by international collectors. In the second half of the sixteenth century the theme of the 'crucified Christ' had returned to have a central role in the theological reflection provoked by the Counter-Reformation which favored him composed in pain, with his head bowed and his eyes closed by death, but also with an imploring gaze turned towards the sky at the moment of passing, as in our case. Precious artefacts were thus created, mostly intended for private worship, in line with the indications of the Council of Trent (1545-1563) auspicious of a renewal of faith and figurative tradition according to precise precepts and iconographic norms.
The works mentioned all share specific executive aspects with the one in question, found in the accurate chiseling of the hair and facial features, in the minute definition of the limbs, and above all in the refined rendering of the loincloth, furrowed by tense folds with eyelets, embellished with a border fringed, the latter peculiarities which seem indicative of a specific autography. It is, therefore, precisely these technical and expressive characteristics, which mark a qualitative pinnacle in the context of Giambologna's serial models, that allow us to recognize in the circle of collaborators and followers of the Flemish master the hand of Antonio Susini, the assistant and then heir credited to Giambologna in the creation of small, highly chiseled crucifixes, as already suggested on archival grounds for the Turin example and as confirmed by the similar refinishing found in the gilded bronze 'Living Christ' of the Madrid convent of the Descalzas Reales, completed in 1603 by Susini. In the faithful adherence to the Giambolognesque prototype we observe, in the crucifixes and more generally in the small bronzes created by Susini, compared to those referable to other collaborators, an icy elegance in the modeling of the cloths, carried out with segmented linear rhythms and flattened surfaces, as well as a a certain composed stylization of physiognomic features and a more contained plastic exuberance in the chiseling of beards and hair, but also a specific ability in the 'polishing' of surfaces, capable of making them so smooth as to appear almost translucent.