L'Amore-Attis is a bronze sculpture by Donatello, datable to around 1440-1443. The work, which shows traces of the original gilding, is kept in the Bargello Museum in Florence.
There are no known documents on the original location or commissioning of the work. Vasari probably mentions it as Mercury, in the house of Agnolo Doni, with the exact attribution to Donatello. Surely it was not commissioned by the Doni, because the family fortune dates back to the sixteenth century and in the fifteenth century they were certainly not able to afford a bronze work of such a high level.
The poppy capsules on the belt symbolize sleep, but they are also the heraldic figure of the Bartolini Salimbeni family, although a possible commission by this family has yet to be demonstrated. The peculiarity of the iconography, not completely interpreted effectively, suggests a very specific private client, perhaps linked to the circle of Florentine humanist scholars.
The bronze sculpture portrays a chubby child who appears to be performing a dance with his arms in the air and swaying his shoulders. The attitude is joyful and vital, with reflections of the pagan culture. The workmanship is refined and precious, highlighted by the golden details (hair, wings, belt, shoes). Libra represents the only inanimate sign of the zodiac and was a relatively new addition, starting from Roman times. The balance that balances good with evil seems, however, to go back to the previous Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilizations. Here, a group of mice is climbing on an old scale: half of them position themselves on the good side, the other half point in vain towards the bad.
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