Late 16th - early 17th century

Man on Horseback Combating a Lion

Artist/maker unknown

Artists in the circle of Giovanni Bologna experimented with sculptural groups of figures and animals in combat as a way of exploring dynamic compositions. This bronze is a European artist’s portrayal of a Black African warrior in an imagined heroic struggle with a lion. Figures of African origin are rarely represented in European sculpture of this period, and the composition and nudity of the figure here reference classical art.

The rough surface of the bronze could be the result of a failed, unfinished cast, or of a damaged preparatory model. Even if damaged, the model for this group must have been preserved and admired, since several other versions of the statuette—with slight differences in certain elements but completely finished surfaces—were cast in Florence in the early 1600s.