AN ITALIAN BRONZE GROUP OF THE FARNESE BULL, CIRCA 1890, after the Antique, nicely modeled and detailed throughout with a lovely blackish to cocoa brown patination, each separately cast figure centering an enraged bull while standing on a rectangular stylized groundwork base, above shallow relief sides depicting foraging deer, wild boars, a pouncing lion, a combatting bear as well as other predatory and prey animals interspersed with sinuous serpents. Height: 15" Width: 11 1/2" Depth: 11" Note: The Farnese Bull is an ancient Roman marble group after the Greek Hellenistic original (50 B.C) by the brothers Apollonius and Tauriskos of Trakeis. The Roman model was originally excavated in 1545 amidst the Baths of Carcalla in Rome. It was named after Pope Paul III Farnese (1534-1549) and moved to the Palazzo Farnese. In 1579 it was restored by the sculptor Gian Battista Bianchi who was also the first to make bronze castings of this marble shortly after its' restoration was complete. During the next four centuries up to the early 20th century, bronze reproductions were made but the advent of the Grand Tour in the 19th Century and Naples as a destination led to several foundries in that city to produce some fine examples. The Roman Farnese Bull marble can be found today in the National Archaeological Museum in Naples, Italy. The Farnese Bull sometimes called the Punishment of Dirce is taken from a tragic Greek story and depicts the brothers Amphion and Zethus seeking revenge on Queen Dirce for cruel treatment of their mother Antiope, by tying her hair to the horns of an angry bull.