BRONZE FIGURE OF A HORSE WITH A BOY Northern Italy, early 16th century. Attributed to Severo Calzetta da Ravenna (ca. 1465–1543). Bronze with dark patina. Depiction of a rearing horse with its head turned to the right and its mouth open. On a flat, naturalistic plinth. H 23 cm, with later wooden base 32 cm. The plinth was probably trimmed, patina with scratches, break. Provenance: - Walter Hugelshofer Collection (1899–1987). - Swiss private collection by inheritance. Exhibited: - Man and the Beast. Exhibition of 18 European bronze and ivory sculptures from private collections at the Arthuro Cuellar-Nathan Gallery, Zurich, December 5, 1990, to January 25, 1991. Comparable models can be found in the Cleveland Museum of Art (cf. William D. Wixom: Renaissance Bronzes from Ohio Collections. Cleveland 1975, No. 77) and in the Metropolitan Museum New York (Inv. No. 64.101.1413), although the latter does not feature a rider. The former is attributed to Andrea Riccio, the latter to Severo da Ravenna. All three are very similar in the posture and design of the horse's head with its open mouth, the design of the tail, hooves, and mane. In the Cleveland Museum catalog, Heinz Schneider suggests that the origin lies in an ancient model or in a bronze group of Bellerophon with Pegasus by Bertoldo di Giovanni, now kept in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (inv. no. Kunstkammer, 5596, illustrated in: Wilhelm Bode. The Italian Bronze Statuettes of the Renaissance. New York 1980, plate IX). Another origin can be assumed to be the bronze of a rearing horse by Bartolomeo Bellano from the Irwin Untermyer Collection, dated to the last quarter of the 15th century (Yvonne Hackenbroch: Bronzes other Metalwork and Sculpture in the Irwin Untermyer Collection. Norwich 1928, Plate 10). In contrast to the aforementioned models by Bertoldo di Giovanni and Bartolomeo Bellano, the design of the horse's body is less stocky and the musculature is more naturalistic, thus much closer to the example in Cleveland, which also features a similar boy as the rider. Fine veins are visible on the horse's body in the area of the belly and legs, a detail that can be found both in a related horse with a boy riding it in the Cà d'Oro in Venice (cf. H.R. Weihrauch: Europäische Bronzestatuetten. Braunschweig 1967, p. 319, No. 386) and in a bronze in the Museo Nazionale del Bargello (cf. Giovanni Mariacher: Bronzetti Veneti del Rinascimento. Vicenza 1971, No. 102). Both are attributed to Andrea Riccio.