Flying Mercury

Label

Carefully balanced on one foot with his body extended in a graceful curve, Giambologna’s depiction of the messenger god Mercury exemplifies the complexity and elegance that established the sculptor’s popularity. Based on his skill, he was appointed the court sculptor for the Medici. Flying Mercury and the casts after it spread courtly tastes across the continent. Cosimo I de’ Medici, the Grand Duke of Tuscany, offered a cast to Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II amid negotiations for their children’s marriage. At least six other versions were sent to allied courts. The Hood Museum’s cast was once outfitted as a small fountain; little spigots sprout from the mouth of the figure of the wind at the base. Flying Mercury could have been placed in a space for entertaining, such as a dining table, to promote its owners’ connection to the Medici by virtue of their shared taste in sculpture.

From the 2024 exhibition Living with Sculpture: Presence and Power in Europe, 1400–1750, curated by Elizabeth Rice Mattison, Andrew W. Mellon Curator of Academic Programming and Curator of European Art and Ashley Offill, Curator of Collections

Course History

ARTH 84, Media and Meaning in Renaissance Sculpture, Adrian Randolph, Fall 2013

HIST 43.02, European Intellectual and Cultural History 1400-1800, Darrin McMahon, Fall 2019

ITAL 3.01, Introductory Italian III, Damiano Benvegnu, Fall 2021

ARTH 27.02, Living Stone: Sculpture in Early Modern Italy, Elizabeth Kassler-Taub, Winter 2022

ARTH 27.02, Living Stone: Sculpture in Early Modern Italy, Elizabeth Kassler-Taub, Winter 2022

ITAL 1.01, Introductory Italian I, Giorgio Alberti, Fall 2022

ITAL 1.02, Introductory Italian I, Andrea Zoller, Fall 2022

ITAL 1.03, Introductory Italian I, Andrea Zoller, Fall 2022

Italian 1.02, Introductory Italian I, Andrea Zoller, Winter 2023

Italian 1.01, Introductory Italian I, Giorgio Alberti, Winter 2023

Italian 11.01, Intensive Italian, Giorgio Alberti, Winter 2023

Art History 7.05, Pompeii: Antique & Modern, Ada Cohen, Winter 2023

Italian 2.01, Introductory Italian II, Andrea Zoller, Winter 2023

Italian 2.02, Introductory Italian II, Matteo Gilebbi, Winter 2023

Italian 1.01, Introductory Italian 1, Giorgio Alberti, Fall 2023

Italian 1.02, Introductory Italian 1, Marco D'Angelo, Fall 2023

Italian 1.03, Introductory Italian 1, Floriana Ciniglia, Fall 2023

Italian 1.04, Introductory Italian 1, Noemi Perego, Fall 2023

Italian 2.01, Introductory Italian II, Marco D'Angelo, Fall 2023

Italian 1.01, Introductory Italian 1, Giorgio Alberti, Winter 2024

Italian 1.02, Introductory Italian 1, Floriana Ciniglia, Winter 2024

Italian 2.01, Introductory Italian II, Giorgio Alberti, Winter 2024

Italian 2.02, Introductory Italian II, Noemi Perego, Winter 2024

Studio Art 17.08, Digital Drawing, Karol Kawiaka, Winter 2024

Studio Art 17.08, Digital Drawing, Karol Kawiaka, Winter 2024

Geography 29.01, Global Cities, Erin Collins, Spring 2024

Geography 29.01, Global Cities, Erin Collins, Spring 2024

History 42.01, Women's Gender, and Sexuality Studies 22.01, Gender & European Society, Patrick Meehan, Spring 2024

History 96.39, Saints and Relics, Cecilia Gaposchkin, Spring 2024

Italian 1.01, Introductory Italian I, Noemi Perego, Spring 2024

Italian 11.01, Intensive Italian, Floriana Ciniglia, Spring 2024

Italian 2.01, Introductory Italian II, Floriana Ciniglia, Spring 2024

Italian 3.01, Introductory Italian III, Tania Convertini, Spring 2024

Italian 3.02, Introductory Italian III, Giorgio Alberti, Spring 2024

Exhibition History

Art for Dartmouth, Harrington Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, August 31,2019-January 12, 2020.

European Bronzes from the Collection of Roger Arvid Anderson, Class of 1968, Gene Y. Kim, Class of 1985, Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, January 19, 1996-June 22, 1997, no. 26.

From Altarpiece to Portrait: Assembling a European Collection, Harrington Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, January 26, 2019-September 6, 2020.

Harrington Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, January 12, 2020-February 12, 2024.

Ivan Albright Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, April 18, 2008.

Ivan Albright Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, December 4, 1993-June 9, 1995.

Ivan Albright Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, May 3, 2000-January 14, 2008.

Living with Sculpture: Presence and Power in Europe, 1400–1750, Citrin Family Gallery and Engles Family Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, March 23, 2024–March 22, 2025.

Main Lobby, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, August 26-December 15, 1999.

Renaissance and Mannerist Plaquettes and Medals from the Collection of Roger Arvid Anderson, Class of 1968, Ivan Albright Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, September 19-November 21, 2013.

Representing Myth: The Classical Tradition in Western Art, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, June 11-August 17, 1995.

The Age of the Marvelous, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, September 21-November 24, 1991; North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, North Carolina, January 25-March 22, 1992; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas, May 24-August 25, 1992; High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia, October 6, 1992-January 3, 1993, no. 56.

Publication History

Roger Arvid Anderson, The Roger Arvid Anderson Collection, Medals, Medallions, Plaquettes and Small Reliefs, Paintings, Sculpture, Works on Paper and Textiles, San Francisco: Roger Arvid Anderson (published privately), design by David L. Wilson, 2015, p. 260-261.

Joy Kenseth, Editor, "The Age of the Marvelous", Hanover, New Hampshire: Hood Museum of Art, 1991, p. 278.

John R. Stomberg, The Hood Now: Art and Inquiry at Dartmouth, Hanover, New Hampshire: Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, 2019, p. 89, ill. plate no. 20.

Provenance

Collection of John R. Gaines (1928-2005), Lexington, Kentucky, date unknown; Important European Sculpture from the Collection of John R. Gaines, Christie's, New York, June 2, 1993, lot 210; Michael Hall Fine Arts, Inc., New York, New York; sold to Roger Arvid Anderson, San Francisco, date unknown; lent to present collection,1993; given to present collection, 2016.

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