Male Nude (3/4 right primary view)

Tiziano Aspetti, one of the most prominent sculptors in late sixteenth-century Venice, probably originally designed this small bronze statue of a nude male either as an andiron ornament or as one of a group of figures to be placed along a balustrade or in a collector's studio, known as a studiolo. In the 1400s, the image of the nude male and the use of bronze were revived as Italian artists looked back to the culture of ancient Greece and Rome for inspiration. Though its subject is ancient, this work was conceived in a thoroughly innovative style of expressionistic and dramatic movement. In typical Mannerist style, the figure twists elegantly, revealing a play of shimmering effects on the surface as the light reflects off pronounced muscles. The figure's animated face, as if in mid-speech, was designed to engage the viewer, much as his pose encouraged the viewer to walk around the sculpture.