"Wild boar". Italy, late 17th century.

"Wild boar". Italy, late seventeenth century.
Bronze with antique brownish-green patina.
Antique green marble pedestal.
Provenance: Vincent Laloux Collection, Brussels.
Measurements: 9,5 x 15 x 5 cm (sculpture); 4,5 x 15,5 x 9,5 cm (pedestal).

This refined sculpture is part of the baroque taste for naturalistic models and for the reinterpretation of themes inherited from the classical world, where the wild boar appears both in mythological contexts - such as the famous boar of Calidon - and in hunting scenes associated with power and nobility.

The modeling reveals a remarkable technical mastery: the fur is treated with incisions and undulations that capture the texture of the animal and generate a rich play of light on the surface. The restrained but alert attitude of the boar, with its head slightly lowered and its body in tension, brings dynamism and veracity to the whole. The greenish-brown patina reinforces its evocative character and its link to the great tradition of Italian bronze.

The sculpture is presented on an elegant base in antique marble, a material that was highly prized from Roman times and recovered in the 17th and 18th centuries for works of prestige. This dialogue between bronze and marble not only elevates the piece from an aesthetic point of view, but also places it in the realm of the cultured collector.