Worthy of a prince. The Mars of Giambologna

Name: Eines Fürsten würdig. Der Mars von Giambologna
Start: 2025-09-17T10:00:00+02:00
End: 2025-09-17T17:00:00+02:00
Location: Liechtensteinisches LandesMuseum

Worthy of a prince. The Mars of Giambologna

The Princely Collections in the Liechtenstein National Museum with Giambologna's Mars.

Description

To mark the 80th birthday of Prince Hans-Adam II von und zu Liechtenstein, the Princely House is celebrating the recent acquisition of one of the most famous small bronzes of the Italian late Renaissance with an exhibition: the Mars by Giambologna.

With its heroic stance and concentrated energy, the figure appears to symbolize the inner strength that gives a ruler true dignity. It was created in Florence, where the Flanders-born Jean de Boulogne, known as Giambologna, worked for the Medici court.

Mars is surrounded by other selected small bronzes from the Princely Collections that were created after designs and models by Giambologna and his workshop staff, including Antonio and Giovanni Francesco Susini, Pietro Tacca and Adriaen de Vries. This not only reveals Giambologna's mastery and the outstanding quality of Mars; a focused examination of the presented bronzes also reveals differences in their treatment, patination and fineness of execution.

Together with other top-class works of art from the Princely Collections, the exhibition takes us back to the Florence of the Medici and sheds light on the art-rich era of the late Renaissance. At the same time, it pays tribute to Hans-Adam II of Liechtenstein as an art lover and patron of the arts, following in the long tradition of the Princes as collectors.

Liechtenstein's Mars possesses all the freshness of Giambologna's original wax model and is dated to the 1570s. Even the finest details, such as the veins at the temples, are not emphasized or defined by cold work, but reproduced as they appeared in the original wax created by Giambologna. This bronze is therefore one of the earliest examples of the model that most faithfully reflects the master's original concept.

From the 1570s, Giambologna ran a well-organized workshop in Florence. As the demand for his works steadily increased, he began to produce technically brilliantly executed small bronzes, whereby several casts were possible according to a specific model.

As his workshop continued this production long after his death, small bronzes created during Giambologna's lifetime represent the qualitative benchmark by which all other examples are measured.

The Princely Collections are guests at the Liechtensteinisches LandesMuseum and are showing this very special highlight from their collection for the first time.