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| Valerio Cioli (and others) Narcissus mainly ca. 1560 marble Victoria & Albert Museum |
"The statue was identified on its discovery in Florence in the mid-nineteenth century as the lost Cupid carved by Michelangelo for Jacopo Galli. For many years after its acquisition by the Victoria & Albert in 1861 it was one of the most celebrated works in the museum – because of the attribution. Many subsequent researchers agreed with the assertion that this was the lost Cupid by Michelangelo. Some art historians rejected the identification of the piece as the Galli Cupid, but maintained the attribution to Michelangelo, while others contested both assertions. Since the 1950s the work has been authoritatively identified as an ancient Roman copy of a Hellenistic model, which was then extensively recut in the sixteenth century. The head was added at this time, and is thought to be the work of the Florentine sculptor Valerio Cioli (ca. 1529-1599), a professional restorer of classical sculpture. The figure would most likely have been placed at the center of a fountain after Cioli's restoration. He seems to have carried out many carvings of figures intended for fountains, which supports the assertion that this figure is a Narcissus intended to sit atop a pool of water. The raised left arm is a nineteenth-century restoration by Cavaliere Santarelli."
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| attributed to Bartolomeo Ammanati Leda and the Swan ca. 1535 marble Victoria & Albert Museum |
"The painter Sir John Everett Millais bought this while in Florence as a sculpture by Michelangelo, from the collection of Count Angelo Galli-Tassi (1792-1863). He was told at that time that it had been in the Galli family for over three hundred years. When it came to the Victoria & Albert the piece was associated with Vincenzo Danti (1530-1576) through comparison with the figures in his sportello of 1559. This attribution was firmly expounded by Keutner in the Burlington Magazine in 1958, who dated the piece to 1572-73. . . . Kinney, however, identified the marble as "una Leda alla due braccia" by the Florentine sculptor Bartolomeo Ammanati (1511-1592), recorded by Raffaelo Borghini as being in the possession of the Duke of Urbino and datable to about 1535. . . . Louis Waldman in the Burlington Magazine in 2002 attributes the group to the Florentine sculptor Battista Lorenzi (1527-1594). . . . Pope-Hennessy suggested that the marble may have been intended as a fountain figure, however this is not supported by evidence, and so the original setting remains unknown."
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| Cristoforo Solari St Catherine of Alexandria (back view, detail) ca. 1514-24 marble Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| Cristoforo Solari St Catherine of Alexandria ca. 1514-24 marble Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
"The head of a Roman Emperor at Saint Catherine's feet symbolizes her defeat of paganism. Her relaxed pose and serene expression, combined with the broken wheel on which she was tortured, convey her acceptance of Christian martyrdom. Her coiffure and clothing are suggestive of classical Greek statuary, and might allude to her life in the eastern Roman Empire. This work's profuse classical references demonstrate the mastery of the antique style for which Solari was renowned. Though probably carved in Milan, the figure may have been inspired by statues of the Virtues on Tullio Lombardo's Vendramin monument, just completed when Solari visited Venice."
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| Giambologna Statue of Female Figure ca. 1571-73 marble Getty Museum, Los Angeles |
"An unidentified nude female figure is shown bathing in a graceful serpentine pose, which is characteristic of Mannerist elegance and known as figura serpentinata. The elaborate pose encourages the viewer to examine the statue from all sides. Giambologna concentrated on the aesthetics of creating an upwardly spiraling movement rather than suggesting a narrative. . . . X-ray analysis has revealed a network of apparently interconnecting channels running from her raised left hand down to the base of the column upon which she sits, which suggests that the figure may once have served as a fountain. Marble works by Giambologna are very rare, but contemporary documents discuss a statue that scholars identify with this one. In 1568 the biographer Giorgio Vasari mentioned a statue of a nude woman that Giambologna made for Bernardo Vecchietti in Florence; another biographer reported that the work was later sent to the Duke of Bavaria."
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| Francesco Mochi Bust of Ottavio Farnese late 16th century marble Getty Museum, Los Angeles |
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| Ridolfo Sirigatti Bust of Niccolo Sirigatti 1576 marble Victoria & Albert Museum |
"Florentine men were known for the relative sobriety of their dress. Here, the artist's father wears a sleeveless overcoat atop his coat. . . . The peculiar disposition of the shoulders, with the right one pulled slightly back from the rest of the figure, and the left pushed slightly forward, shows the artist's intention to give an impression of movement. . . . In his own day Ridolfo Sirigatti (active ca. 1570-1600) seems to have been regarded as a sculptor of considerable eminence. The son of a rich textile merchant and of Cassandra, daughter of the painter Ridolfo Ghirlandaio, Ridolfo continued his father's mercantile activity and brought fame to his family by becoming one of the Knights of Santa Stefano (the order instituted by Grand Duke Cosimo I de' Medici in 1581)."
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| Lorenzo Ottoni Portrait-medallion of Pope Alexander VIII 1690s marble Getty Museum, Los Angeles |
"Projecting from a white marble medallion, the face of the popular octogenarian Pope Alexander VIII looks out with informal candor. The medallion format, usually reserved for tomb monuments, here was chosen to represent a still-living figure. The pope wears a non-liturgical cap and cape usually worn for informal audiences. His smooth clothing contrasts with his sagging, aging flesh. This unidealized, casual image is very rare in papal portraiture of the 1600s. Both the base and the double-headed eagle, symbol of the pope's Ottoboni family, were carved from a single piece of bigio antico marble. The sculptor skillfully manipulated the color of the stone so that the white-and-gray veined portion comprised the base, while the darker black-and-gray part of the stone was used for the eagle. The sculpture was a gift from Cardinal Francesco Barberini, whom Alexander had made a cardinal in 1690."
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| Étienne-Maurice Falconet Allegory of Sculpture ca. 1746 marble Victoria & Albert Museum |
"Sculptors working in Paris in the eighteenth century aimed to progress through a hierarchy controlled by the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture. Falconet's submission of a terracotta study of Milo of Crotona resulted in him being an agrégé (approved by the Academy in principle) and therefore allowed to submit a morceau de réception, a finished work of a given subject, usually based on a previous approved study. It was designed to impress and satisfy the Academy sufficiently for the sculptor to become an Academician. In 1744 Falconet was asked by the Academy to produce 'le Genie de la Sculpture' (The Allegory of Sculpture) – so not the subject of his previously submitted and approved work. He produced the terracottas of this in 1745 and 1746. But records show that Falconet finally submitted a marble of Milo of Crotona as his morceau de réception in 1754, and was made an Academician as a result. No explanation for his return to the previous subject has come to light."
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| after Jacques Saly Hebe ca. 1750-75 marble Victoria & Albert Museum |
"In Greek mythology, Hebe was the cupbearer for the gods and goddesses of Mount Olympus. She is usually shown, as here, with a cup in her hand. This white marble statuette is a work after Jacques Saly (1717-1776), a reproduction of a life-sized statue commissioned by Mme. de Pompadour, mistress of Louis XV, for the chateau of Bellevue, built for her in 1750. The model for this statuette was exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1753, and it was much copied in the second half of the eighteenth century."
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| Jean-Baptiste Pigalle Bust of Mme Adélaïde-Julie Mirleau de Neuville, née Garnier d'Isle 1750s marble Getty Museum, Los Angeles |
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| Jean-Antoine Houdon Portrait of the Marquis de Miromesnil 1775 marble Victoria & Albert Museum |
"Jean-Antoine Houdon (1741-1823) is generally recognized as the pre-eminent European portrait sculptor of the last half of the eighteenth century. He excelled in penetrating portrayals of the great intellectual, military and political figures of the Enlightenment, as well as portraits of children. He was also masterly in conveying textiles and other textures in carved marble. In this bust, the Marquis de Miromesnil is shown in the robes of a magistrate. It was exhibited at the Salon of 1775, probably commemorating the appointment that year of Miromesnil to be Minister of Justice."
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| Samuel Joseph Bust of King George IV 1831 marble Victoria & Albert Museum |
"This posthumous bust is an idealised representation of George IV, similar to the famous painted portrait by Sir Thomas Lawrence. The King is shown in classical dress, but with a movement and bravura reminiscent of Italian Baroque sculpture. Samuel Joseph (1791-1850) was a pupil of the sculptor and wax modeller Peter Rouw; he also trained at the Royal Academy Schools in London. In 1823 he went to Edinburgh and became one of the founder members of the Royal Scottish Academy. He introduced a more naturalistic, less classical style of portrait sculpture, much admired in Scotland at the time. He returned to London in 1828, but despite some prestigious commissions, including the monument to the slavery abolitionist William Wilberforce in Westminster Abbey, he died in some poverty."
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| Lawrence Macdonald Monument to Emily Georgiana, Lady Winchilsea (back view) 1850 marble Victoria & Albert Museum |
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| Lawrence Macdonald Monument to Emily Georgiana, Lady Winchilsea (detail) 1850 marble Victoria & Albert Museum |
"This is one in a series of dynastic monuments to the Finch family, formerly installed in the church where they were buried. Lady Winchilsea (1809-1848) died prematurely, and is portrayed in an elegant Neo-Classical style, the poetic inscription evoking the pathos of her early death. The sculpture was executed by the Scottish sculptor Lawrence Macdonald (1799-1878), who trained in Edinburgh, but spent most of his adult life working in Rome. He exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy in London, and at the Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh. He also showed works at the Great Exhibition of 1851. Prince Albert was one of his patrons, and he executed idealized sculptures for Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. Other monuments to members of the Finch family, once in St. Mary's Church, Eastwell, Kent, are also now housed in the Victoria & Albert Museum. The church fell into disrepair and collapsed in the 1960s, but the monuments were rescued and brought to the Museum."
– quoted texts based on curator's notes at the respective museums