GILT BRONZE PAX BOARD. POSSIBLY ROME, LAST THIRD 16TH CENTURY-FIRST THIRD 17TH CENTURY, AFTER MICHELANGELO BUONARROTI.

Peacekeeper, Mercy. Gilded bronze. Possibly Rome, last third of the 16th century-first quarter of the 17th century, following the model of Michelangelo Buonarroti. Gilded bronze plate with a handle on the back in the shape of that attached to an ele piece decorated with plant elements, which has reliefs on the front. The architectural framework has two curved pediments as a crown between which God the Father appears blessing, a series of motifs around the central theme and a flat base with fine moldings on which a winged angel head appears. That central motif is an image of the Virgin Mary with the dead Christ supported by two angels, which closely follows a drawing attributed to Michelangelo Buonarrotti dated between 1538 and 1544 and preserved in Boston (Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum). It is necessary to remember that, by the middle of the 16th century, Michelangelo's Pietà to which we are referring was widely known thanks to drawings, reliefs, engravings, etc. Likewise, there is evidence of a bronze peace holder made with this image (it is considered that the one preserved in the Basilica della Santa Casa in Loreto would be the only known and dated example, in 1586), which would give rise to an outstanding production in Rome. from the end of the 16th century, full of outstanding foundry workshops, among which Jacopo (who worked with Michelangelo) and Ludovico Duca, linked to some of these peace holders, stand out. And it is also worth noting the similarity of the architectural composition of the present piece with the entrance to the façade of the church of Santa María de Trivio in Rome, a work by Jacopo del Duca carried out between the years 1573 and 1575. Compare the present piece with the gilt bronze peace holder from the Bernard d'Agesci Museum in Niort, France (inventory 914.1.94), with another associated with the circle of Stefano Maderno preserved in a private collection (handle different from this one), with the one mentioned from Loreto and with another, with openwork exterior decorative elements, also in a private Italian collection.

· Size: 11x5x17 cms.