Giambologna (1529–1608): Striding Mars, Model c. 1565-70; cast c. 1580

Giambologna’s Striding Mars is one of the sculptor’s most dynamic and impressive exercises in the male nude. The Roman god of war is depicted as a powerfully muscled mature figure striding purposefully forward, his body twisted as he turns to look to his left; heavily bearded, with thick brows and deep-set eyes, his hair formed from vigorous, writhing curls that rise above his forehead to form a sort of pyramid. The figure’s only attribute is a sword in his right hand, the hilt of which now remains. One of the most extraordinary elements in the composition is the god’s left hand, held slightly downward and with two fingers extended, the tension that is created rendering visible every vein in the surface of the hand. The figure marks a development from the pose of the large bronze figure of Neptune in Giambologna’s Fountain of Neptune in Bologna, made between 1563 and 1567. In Striding Mars, the figure’s limbs, spreading even more expansively outwards than in the Neptune, demonstrate the freedom afforded by bronze as a material, when compared to the constraints of sculpture in stone. 

Giambologna

1529–1608

PROVENANCE

• The Princes von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, Schloß Sigmaringen, Germany

FRANCISCO DE ZURBARÁN, Minneapolis Institute of Art →