CIRCLE OF NICOLÒ ROCCATAGLIATA (ITALIAN, 1560-1633), A VENETIAN GILT BRONZE FIGURE OF VENUS WITH A DOLPHIN 17TH CENTURY On a Breccia Africano marble plinth 23cm high Provenance: The Simon Neal Collection Roccatagliata's known activity is confined to Venice and the aquatic iconography of this gilt-bronze Venus, appearing with a dolphin and a conch shell is certainly appropriate to its production in the Italian city composed of a 100 plus islands. Roccatagliata fashioned models for the famed painter Tintoretto, to help him devise his compositions. On 31 January 1593, Nicolò was commissioned to make the bronze statuettes of St George and St Stephen for the entrance to the balustrade across the choir of S Giorgio Maggiore. Other known works by him include a signed standing Virgin and Child (Ecouen), a seated Virgin and Child (New York, Met.), as well as Adam and Eve and two music making putti (Vienna).