Search Request | Object report

Vertumnus

Lost Art-ID

596682

Aufstellung der Skulptur in der Antonienstube, Schloss Wolfsburg, 1924/um 1930(?), Hausarchiv der Grafen von der Schulenburg-Wolfsburg, 826 (Fotoalbum „Wolfsburg 1924“)

Installation of the sculpture in the Antonienstube, Wolfsburg Palace, 1924/around 1930(?), House Archive of the Counts von der Schulenburg-Wolfsburg, 826 (photo album ‘Wolfsburg 1924’)

Antonienstube, Wolfsburg Castle, around 1935, House Archive of the Counts of Schulenburg-Wolfsburg, 716 (‘Collection of photographs of Wolfsburg Castle and the surrounding area’, 1935), Vertumnus on the left, Prudenza on the right

The sculptures ‘Vertumnus’ (right foreground), ‘Prudenza’ and ‘Fortezza’ (background) by Antonio Gai in Neumühle Castle, House Archive of the Counts of Schulenburg-Wolfsburg, 1527 (Neumühle photo pocket), Photograph: Erling J. Foss, Colorado Springs, CO

The sculpture in the library, Neumühle Castle, postcard, 1943-45, Hausarchiv der Grafen von der Schulenburg-Wolfsburg, 670 (postcards with three motifs, including exterior and interior views of Neumühle Castle)

Die Skulptur in der Bibliothek, Schloß Neumühle, Postkarte, 1943-45, Hausarchiv der Grafen von der Schulenburg-Wolfsburg, 670 (Postkarten mit drei Motiven, u. a. Außen- und Innenansicht von Schloss Neumühle), aus einem leicht veränderten Blickwinkel, Photo nach Hammerschmidt 2001, 14.039

Die Skulptur „Vertumnus“ in der Bibliothek von Schloss Neumühle, Hausarchiv der Grafen von der Schulenburg-Wolfsburg, 1527 (Phototasche Neumühle), Photograph: Erling J. Foss, Colorado Springs, CO

Innenansicht von Schloss Neumühle als Quartier der alliierten Besatzungsmacht 1945, Hausarchiv der Grafen von der Schulenburg-Wolfsburg, 920, Photograph: Erling J. Foss, Colorado Springs, CO

Artist / Creator

Gai, Antonio

Birth

03.05.1686, Venedig

Death

04.06.1769, Venedig

Title

Vertumnus

Dating

1730-31/1735

Object type

Sculpture

Group of reported objects

Sculpture

Material / Technique

Marble (Carrara)

Measures

H 120 cm (estimated), with plinth 205 cm

Description

A standing male figure of a god with short, curly hair on a table-high plinth inlaid with coloured marble slabs; the muscular upper body and the left arm free, the right hand holding an antique, wrinkled robe, part of which lies over the right shoulder. The bent left hand holds an object, probably a fruit bunch as usual for the representation of the originally Etruscan deity in later times, to the hip.

Provenance

Acquired from the artist in 1731 by the field marshal in Venetian service Matthias Johann von der Schulenburg (* 1661, † 1747); since at least 1736 together with two allegorical figures by the same master in the inventories of the latter's collection in Venice, at a time not exactly verifiable in the "Camera rossa" and in 1737 in the audience room of the Venetian Palazzo Loredan (later named: dell'Ambasciatore) on the Grand Canal; in February 1739 moved to the family palace in Berlin's Wilhelmstrasse occupied by his nephew Adolf Friedrich von der Schulenburg (* 1685, † 1741); after the latter's death at the Battle of Mollwitz, in the possession of his brother Christian Günther (* 1684, † 1765); entail Matthias Johann von der Schulenburg; at the time of the compilation of the printed Berlin/Hehlen inventory (c. 1750[? ]) in Berlin; by succession into the Wolfsburg branch of the von der Schulenburg family; until 1942 Wolfsburg Castle (until 1932 Gardelegen County, Province of Saxony; then Gifhorn County, Province of Hanover; today City of Wolfsburg); then moved to the newly built Neumühle Castle near Tangeln, municipality of Beetzendorf in the Altmark County of Salzwedel; probably left there in 1945 when the von der Schulenburg family fled and presumably "destroyed in the post-war turmoil of 1945" (Hammerschmidt 2001, no evidence) or transported away. Last documented by photo in Schloss Neumühle 1945, location: "Library ground floor".

Literature / Source

Dokumentiert in der Sammlung des Feldmarschalls M. J. von der Schulenburg und seiner Erben in Venedig und Berlin durch eine Vielzahl von Inventaren und andere zeitgenössische Quellen; unbezeichnete Inventarliste von Schloß Wolfsburg, Winter 1889, Wolfsburg, Hausarchiv der Grafen von der Schulenburg-Wolfsburg, 659; Binion, A.: La galleria scomparsa del maresciallo von der Schulenburg, Milano 1990, S. 126; Hammerschmidt, G. (i. A. der Grafen von der Schulenburg-Wolfsburg): Das Schicksal des Kunst- und Kulturgutes von Schloss Wolfsburg-Neumühle im Altmarkkreis Salzwedel ab dem Zeitpunkt des Erlasses der Provinzialverwaltung Sachsen, Stand: November 2001 (Maschinenschrift, Nov. 2001, Hausarchiv der Grafen von der Schulenburg-Wolfsburg), 05.074 003; Benuzzi, F.: Antonio Gai (1686-1769), tesi di dottorato di ricerca in Storia antica e archeologia. Storia dell’arte: Università Ca'Foscari Venezia. Scuola Dottorale di Ateneo/Graduate School, 2012-2013, S. 28, 64, 69, 120, 178 (dat. zw. 1731-35); Benuzzi, F.: Uno scultore veneziano del Settecento e le sue commissioni europee. L’esempio di Antonio Gai, in: Ateneo Veneto 200, 3. Ser., Nr. 12/I, 2013, S. 343-53, 344/45; Benuzzi, F.: Committenze europee di scultura veneziana nel Settecento. Una panoramica e alcune ipotesi di lavoro, in: RIHA Journal 101, 2014, o. P. (11), unter Nr. [7]; Guerriero, S.: Sculpteurs venitiens pour les cours et les collectionneurs d'Europe, in: Loisel, C. (Hg.in): Éblouissante Venise. Venise, les arts et l’Europe au XVIIIe siècle, Ausst.-kat. Paris, Grand Palais [2018], S. 160-66, 163-65

Published since

19.11.2021

Contact

Graf von der Schulenburg

Phone

+49 (0) 5363 97190

E-Mail

info@graf-schulenburg.de