Goddess Minerva, Gilt Bronze From Renaissance Cabinet, Italy, Late 16th-early 17th Century

This beautiful gilded bronze represents the Roman goddess Minerva, daughter of Jupiter and Metis, divinity of wisdom, arts and crafts as well as warlike cunning. An essential figure in the Roman pantheon, Minerva was one of the favorite subjects of the bronze artists of the Renaissance and the Classical period. It is identifiable here by its traditional military attributes, the helmet, the shield, as well as its strapped breastplate worn on a fine tunic delicately ciseld by the artist. The warrior goddess must have once relied on a spear which she held in the palm of her right hand. The typology of our work, as well as its dimensions, indicate that it was originally made to integrate the sumptuous decor of a sumptuous Renaissance cabinet, enhanced with a series of gilded bronze deities and heroes from Roman mythology. Several examples with the same composition as our sculpture can be listed in international public and private collections. Our work ranks among the most beautiful and refined examples of this corpus.