Skip to main content

Leda and the Swan with Cupid

Former TitleLeda and the Swan with Amore
Artist Massimiliano Soldani Benzi (Italian, 1656 - 1740)
Datelate 17th-early 18th century
MediumBronze
DimensionsApproximate: 13 1/2 x 15 x 11 inches (34.29 x 38.1 x 27.94 cm)
Credit LinePurchase: Nelson Gallery Foundation
Object numberF83-36
On View
Not on view
Collections
Exhibition History

Il trionfo delle bell'arti renduto gloriosissimo sotto gli auspici delle LL. AA. RR. Pietro Leopoldo, Arciduca d'Austria, Principe Reale d'Ungheria, e di Boemia, Gran-Duca di Toscana ec.ec.ec. e Maria Luisa di Borbone, Arciduchessa d'Austria, Gran Duchessa di Toscana ec.ec.ec.: in occasione, che gli Accademici del Disegno in dimostrazione di profondo rispetto verso i Loro Sovrani, fanno la solanne mostra delle opere antiche di più eccellenti artefici nella propria cappella, e nel chiostro secondo de' PP. della SS. Nonziata in Firenze l'anno 1767.

The Twilight of the Medici: Late Baroque Art in Florence, 1670-1743, Detroit Institute of Arts, March 27-June 2, 1974; Palazzo Pitti, Florence, June 28-September 30, 1974, no. 71, as Leda and the Swan.

The Burlington House Fair: The Burlington Fine Art and Antique Dealers’ Fair, Royal Academy of Arts, London, March 12-21, 1982, no. 33, as Leda and the Swan with Amore.

Provenance

Marchese Carlo Gerini (d. 1757), by 1757;

Purchased by the collector’s father, Vienna, ca. 1930;

Private collection, San Francisco, by 1981;

Purchased at Sotheby Parke Bernet, Los Angeles, November 4, 1981, no. 752, as Leda and the Swan with Amore, by Alex Wengraf, Ltd., London, 1981-July 25, 1983;

Purchased from Alex Wengraf, Ltd. by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1983.

Published References

Bonso Pio Bonsi, Il trionfo delle bell'arti renduto gloriosissimo sotto gli auspici delle LL. AA. RR. Pietro Leopoldo, Arciduca d'Austria, Principe Reale d'Ungheria, e di Boemia, Gran-Duca di Toscana ec.ec.ec. e Maria Luisa di Borbone, Arciduchessa d'Austria, Gran Duchessa di Toscana ec.ec.ec. : in occasione, che gli Accademici del Disegno in dimostrazione di profondo rispetto verso i Loro Sovrani, fanno la solanne mostra delle opere antiche di più eccellenti artefici nella propria cappella, e nel chiostro secondo de' PP. della SS. Nonziata in Firenze l'anno 1767, exh. cat. (Florence: G.B. Stecchi, e A.G. Pagani, 1767), 13.

Klaus Lankheit, Florentinische Barockplastik: die Kunst am Hofe der letzten Medici, 1670-1743 (Munich: F. Bruckmann, 1962), 284, as Due Gruppi di Leda, e Venere, che Spenna Amore.

Jennifer Montagu, “Massimiliano Soldani’s Venus Plucking the Wings of Cupid,” Bulletin 24 (The National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa) (1974): 33n15.

Harold Acton, The Twilight of the Medici: Late Baroque Art in Florence, 1670-1743, exh. cat. (Detroit: Detroit Institute of Arts, 1974), 108-09, (repro.), as Leda and the Swan.

Hugh Casson, George J. Levy, and John Riely, “The Burlington House Fair: The Burlington Fine Art and Antique Dealers’ Fair,” The Burlington Magazine 124, no. 948 (March 1982): 80, (repro.), as Leda and the Swan with Amore.


Klaus Lankheit, Die Modellsammlung der Porzellanmanufaktur Doccia: ein Dokument italienischer Barockplastik (Munich: F. Bruckmann, 1982), 119, (repro.), as Gruppo di Leda in atto di abbracciare il cigno, e putto che gli tiene il panno alzato.

Calendar of Events (The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art) (January 1984): unpaginated, (repro.), as Leda and the Swan with Cupid.

Treasures from the Fitzwilliam: The Increase of Learning and Other Great Objects, exh. cat. (Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 1989).

 

Information about a particular artwork or image, including provenance information, is based upon historic information and may not be currently accurate or complete. Research on artwork and images is an ongoing process, and the information about a particular artwork or image may not reflect the most current information available to the Museum. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about a particular artwork or image, please e-mail provenance@nelson-atkins.org.


Copy of the "Venus de Medici"
Massimiliano Soldani Benzi
ca. 1710-1720
F73-3
Leda and the Swan
Etienne-Maurice Falconet
1764-1766
33-669
Cupid
Nicolò Roccatagliata
1593
43-24
recto overall
François Boucher
1750s
66-16
recto overall
François Boucher
18th century
32-193/17
Cupid Riding on a Goat
Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione, called Il Benedetto
17th century
81-30/16
Venus Instructing Cupid
Richard Cosway
F76-55/3
The Swan
Anders Zorn
1915
57-115/52
Swans
Alfredo Müller
ca. 1899
F84-4/13
Leda in the Shadows
Clarence John Laughlin
1940
2005.27.1657
Leda
Ruth Thorne-Thomsen
1986; printed 1988
2012.38.37
overall
Charles Crozatier
ca. 1845-1850
44-53