Cleveland Museum of Art

Doorknocker with a Satyr Pulling an Ox's Horns

Andrea Riccio

Date

1800s

Medium

bronze

Culture

Italy, early 16th Century

Department

European Painting and Sculpture

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Fanciful bronzes such as this one were extremely popular in the late 1500s in the north of Italy, where sculptors such as Andrea Riccio and Severo da Ravenna often featured bizarre imaginary creatures in their sculptures. These artists exerted a long-lasting influence on their peers and followers for the remainder of the 1500s. However, this sculpture was not made in the 1500s. Based on the weight and style of the Doorknocker , it is most likely that it was made in the 1800s to mimic the style of Riccio and his followers. This sculpture is solid; in the 1500s artists created hollow sculptures to reduce the costs of the object and to decrease the chances of flaws in the sculpture. However, in the 1800s when better bronze casting technology evolved and the price of the metal was less costly, artists created solid bronze sculptures based on sixteenth-century designs. In particular, there was a considerable market in England for Renaissance revival doorknockers to be used decoratively on pub doors.

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