ANTICO
(b. ca. 1460, Mantova, d. 1528, Mantova)

Paris

1500-05
Bronze, partially gilt and silvered, height 37 cm
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Paris is identified by the golden apple of the Hesperides that he conferred on Venus to mark his choice of her as the most beautiful of the goddesses. Originally the figure was seated on a stone base, long missing.

Antico developed a sophisticated technique of reproducing small-scale bronzes. This involved taking moulds from his original model and casting the statuettes from them. The moulds could be reused. Antico was therefore able to provide copies of several of his bronzes about 20 years after he had made the originals.