Search Request | Object report

Allegory of strength / La Fortezza"

Lost Art-ID

596681

The sculptures ‘Prudenza’ (left) and ‘Fortezza’ (right) in a historical measuring picture of Wolfsburg Castle, BLaDM, Meßbildarchiv, 37 b 16_521119; identical photo with the indication Photograph: Walter Hege at the Institute for Contemporary History and City Presentation, City of Wolfsburg

The sculptures ‘Prudenza’ (back left), ‘Fortezza’ (back right) and ‘Vertumnus’ (foreground) by Antonio Gai in Neumühle Castle, House Archive of the Counts of Schulenburg-Wolfsburg, 1527 (Neumühle photo pocket), Photograph: Erling J. Foss, Colorado Springs, CO

Interior view of Neumühle Castle as quarters for the Allied occupation forces in 1945, in the background the sculpture of the ‘Fortezza’, Hausarchiv 920, Photograph: Erling J. Foss, Colorado Springs, CO

Artist / Creator

Gai, Antonio

Birth

03.05.1686, Venedig

Death

04.06.1769, Venedig

Title

Allegory of strength / La Fortezza"

Dating

1733/1735

Object type

Sculpture

Group of reported objects

Sculpture

Material / Technique

Marble

Measures

H 120 cm (estimated), with plinth 205 cm

Description

A female figure standing securely and calmly with a short curly hairstyle in a wrinkled antique robe that leaves the décolleté exposed on a table-high plinth inlaid with coloured marble slabs; the shoulder and right arm are not covered by the robe with its softly falling folds, the bent right arm grasps the robe under the breast, the left hand lifts part of the robe fabric, producing a softly falling round drape.

Provenance

Since at least 1736 together with its counterpart "Allegory of Prudence" in the inventories of the collection of the General Field Marshal in Venetian service Matthias Johann von der Schulenburg (* 1661, † 1747) in Venice, obviously commissioned by him from the artist and paid for in 1733/35; at a time that cannot be exactly verified in the "Camera rossa" and in 1737 in the audience room of the Venetian Palazzo Loredan (later called: dell'Ambasciatore) on the Grand Canal; in February 1739 moved to the family palace in Berlin's Wilhelmstrasse occupied by his nephew Adolf Friedrich von der Schulenburg (* 1685, † 1741); after the latter's death at the Battle of Mollwitz, in the possession of his brother Christian Günther (* 1684, † 1765); entail Matthias Johann von der Schulenburg; at the time of the compilation of the printed Berlin/Hehlen inventory (c. 1750[? ]) in Berlin; by succession into the Wolfsburg branch of the von der Schulenburg family; until 1942 Wolfsburg Castle (until 1932 Gardelegen County, Province of Saxony; then Gifhorn County, Province of Hanover; today City of Wolfsburg); then moved to the newly built Neumühle Castle near Tangeln, municipality of Beetzendorf in the Altmark County of Salzwedel; probably left there in 1945 when the von der Schulenburg family fled and presumably "destroyed in the post-war turmoil of 1945" (Hammerschmidt 2001, no evidence) or transported away. Last documented by photo in Schloss Neumühle 1945, location: "Library ground floor".

Literature / Source

Dokumentiert in der Sammlung des Feldmarschalls M. J. von der Schulenburg und seiner Erben in Venedig und Berlin durch eine Vielzahl von Inventaren und andere zeitgenössische Quellen; unbezeichnete Inventarliste von Schloß Wolfsburg, Winter 1889, Wolfsburg, Hausarchiv der Grafen von der Schulenburg-Wolfsburg, 659; Binion, A.: La galleria scomparsa del maresciallo von der Schulenburg, Milano 1990, S. 126; Bacchi, A. (Hg.): La scultura a Venezia da Sansovino a Canova, Milano 2000, S. 737/38; Hammerschmidt, G. (i. A. der Grafen von der Schulenburg-Wolfsburg): Das Schicksal des Kunst- und Kulturgutes von Schloss Wolfsburg-Neumühle im Altmarkkreis Salzwedel ab dem Zeitpunkt des Erlasses der Provinzialverwaltung Sachsen, Stand: November 2001 (Maschinenschrift, Nov. 2001, Hausarchiv der Grafen von der Schulenburg-Wolfsburg), 05.074 003; Benuzzi, F.: Antonio Gai (1686-1769), tesi di dottorato di ricerca in Storia antica e archeologia. Storia dell’arte: Università Ca'Foscari Venezia. Scuola Dottorale di Ateneo/Graduate School, 2012-2013, S. 28, 64, 69, 120, 178 (dat. zw. 1731-35); Benuzzi, F.: Uno scultore veneziano del Settecento e le sue commissioni europee. L’esempio di Antonio Gai, in: Ateneo Veneto 200, 3. Ser., Nr. 12/I, 2013, S. 343-53, 344/45; Benuzzi, F.: Committenze europee di scultura veneziana nel Settecento. Una panoramica e alcune ipotesi di lavoro, in: RIHA Journal 101, 2014, o. P. (11), unter Nr. [7]; Guerriero, S.: Sculpteurs venitiens pour les cours et les collectionneurs d'Europe, in: Loisel, C. (Hg.in): Éblouissante Venise. Venise, les arts et l’Europe au XVIIIe siècle, Ausst.-kat. Paris, Grand Palais [2018], S. 160-66, 163-65; Krellig, H.: After 1716: Strategies of Fame and Signs of Gratitude in the Republic of Venice, in: Οθωμανικη Αυτοκρατια και Βενετια.Η πολιοϱχια της Κεϱχυϱας απο Οθωμανους το 1716 / The Ottoman Empire and Venice. The Ottoman Siege of Corfu in 1716. International scientific congress, Corfu, 21–23 October 2016, Hg.: N. E. Karapidakis und A. D. Nikiforou, Municipitality of Corfu. Regional Union of Municipalities of Ionian Islands, Corfu/Κεϱκυρα 2019, S. 239–80, 477–84, hier: 269/70; Krellig, H.: „Adhuc viventi“. Francesco Morosini e Matthias Johann von der Schulenburg – Strategie di glorificazione di due uomini di guerra del tardobarocco veneziano, in Tagungsband: La „splendida“ Venezia di Francesco Morosini (1619–1694). Cerimoniali, Arte, Cultura: Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Venedig, in Vorbereitung zur Veröffentlichung.

Published since

19.11.2021

Contact

Graf von der Schulenburg

Phone

+49 (0) 5363 97190

E-Mail

info@graf-schulenburg.de