Sculpture “Mercury”

Note

A French reduction of the second half of the 19th century of the bronze sculpture “Mercury” created in 1576 by a Florence Mannerist sculptor and representative of the early Italian Baroque period Giambologna (who is more widely known in the world art history as Giovanni da Bologna). His sculpture “Mercury” became widely popular in the Western Europe and Russia in the second half of the 19th century - early 20th century under the name “A running Mercury”. This sculpture of a flying Mercury (a Roman god, the patron of trade), standing on an air stream from the mouth of Aeolus (an ancient god, a keeper of winds and storms) with his right foot, was created in bronze under the order from Pope Pius IV (1559-1565) for the decoration of a column in a university yard in Bologna. This monumental artistic project was not implemented, but the pattern of Mercury created at Giambologna's workshop attracted the attention of the Duke of Parma and Piacenza, who commissioned a designer copy of it for himself. Later, upon the order of Grand Duke of Tuscany Cosimo I de' Medici (1519-1574), the sculptor manufactured a larger copy which was presented to Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I (1527-1576). The next Grand Duke of Tuscany Francesco I de' Medici (1541-1587) commissioned another two copies of Mercury from the artist, in order to present them to Elector of Saxony Christian I (1560-1591) and King of Germany and Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II (1552-1612). An authentic copy of Mercury was manufactured by Giovanni da Bologna for the Medici family and sent to their Roman villa. Due to numerous creator replicas of the sculpture under the orders of various Italian statesmen and politicians, and the gifting of the sculpture as a great art object to influential European leaders, the Mercury sculpture gained wide popularity far beyond Italy.