École italienne du XVIIème siècle - Lot 409

Lot 409
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3000 - 5000 EUR
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Result : 11 700EUR
École italienne du XVIIème siècle - Lot 409
École italienne du XVIIème siècle Sleeping love Marble Size: 23 x 55 x 25 cm Related work: -Anonymous, leaf from the Album of Busts and Statues at Whitehall, circa 1629, pencil, 16 x 24 cm, ink and wash, Windsor Castle, The Royal Library, inv. fol.258f Related literature: -Charles Dempsey, Inventing the Renaissance Putto, The University of North Carolina Press, 2001 ; -Stefano Pierguidi, "Orazio Samacchinie il Cupido dormiente antico di Isabella d'Este", in Atti e Memorie, nuova Serie, vol. LXXXIX,2011, pp.77-91. Carved from an irregularly shaped block of white marble, Sleeping Love is shown reclining on a draped mound. The child places his right hand on an hourglass and his right foot on a human skull, attributes symbolizing sleep and death. The subject corresponds to a Hellenistic theme that was very popular in ancient times and later during the Renaissance. The collection of Isabella d'Este (1474-1539), patron of the arts and Renaissance figure, wife of the Marquis of Mantua Francesco II Gonzaga (1466-1519), included, among its most emblematic works, two sleeping Cupids: one antique, by the Greek sculptor Praxiteles, the other by Michelangelo. Two other sculptures of sleeping Cupids, attested by the Gonzaga family inventories in the early 17th century, subsequently joined the collection. Of these four works, three were subsequently sold to King Charles I of England in 1631. A leaflet reproducing them in sketch form (preserved in the Royal Library) is the only graphic evidence we have of these marbles. Comparison of our work with the drawing in the Royal Library reveals a resumption of the general composition, testifying to the popularity of this theme in Italy in the following century.
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