The model of the bull was extremely popular in the seventeenth century, a theme that perhaps intended to revive the Apis bull that in Egypt was a rural deity symbol of the generation and of the fertile force, whose cult was widespread even in the Greek-Roman period.
In the Renaissance there were numerous depictions of this animal, especially in Flemish art that managed to give the animal a marked monumental appearance.
In the painting of 1628 by Willem van Haecht the Younger depicting the Gallery of Cornelis van der Geest, a bronze modelled like a bull similar to the one presented here, is placed on the table in the foreground along with other bronzes attributed to Giambologna.
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