Apollo. Artist: Adriaen de Vries (Netherlandish, The Hague ca. 1545-1626 Prague). Culture: German, probably Augsburg. Dimensions: Overall (confirmed): 18 3/4 × 10 5/8 × 7 1/2 in. (47.6 × 27 × 19.1 cm). Date: ca. 1594-98.
Heavy, rich, and difficult to master, bronze sculpture was the realm of the wealthiest collectors and their curiosity cabinets. This statuette was made to be admired up close, held in the hands of a privileged few. While contemporaries such as Albrecht Dürer courted markets across social classes, the Dutch sculptor De Vries embodied exclusivity. Except for two fountains in wealthy Augsburg, the well-traveled, Italian-influenced De Vries made art only for a tiny cluster of patrons in the circle of his protector, Emperor Rudolph II, at his court in Prague.
[Elizabeth Cleland, 2017].