Allegory of Winter
- Object belonging
- One's own
- Category
- Terracotta sculpture
- City
- Rome
- Location
- Museo Nazionale del Palazzo di Venezia
- Specific location
- Room 23
- Inventory
- PV 13264
- Material and technique
- Terracotta
- Author
- Camillo Rusconi (1658-1728)
- Dating
- 1711
- Dimensions
- 31 x 19 x 19 cm
- Origin
- Cavaceppi Collection (1799); Torlonia Collection (last quarter 19th century); Gorga Collection (1948)
- Image copyright
- SSPSAE e per il Polo Museale della città di Roma
Short description
At the beginning of the 1690s the young Camillo Rusconi completed a terracotta sculpture that “represented a putto with a bunch of grapes in his hand, sitting on a rock over which more grapes are layed out” (Baldinucci 1728-30, pp. 90-91). On the advice of his friend, Carlo Maratti, who admired the work, Rusconi made a marble version that was around 90 cm tall, which was bought by the Marquis Niccolò Maria Pallavicini. Since the grapes hinted at an autumnal allegory, the sculptor then completed a series with the other three seasons which all went to decorate the main floor of Pallavicini’s apartment in the via dell’Orso. Around 1730, the Four Seasons came to England, bought by King George I for around 4000 scudi for the gallery at Kensington Palace. There are several models of this series, especially of the figure of Winter, each different in size and detail. The Palazzo Venezia model can be considered a preparatory work where the sculptor wished to determine the general outline of the composition without filling in details. The marks from a tooth-edged tool, brushed over the surface, are clearly visible around the rock surface on the base, in the cuffs of the mantle and the putto’s hair. Even though there are some losses, including a piece of the flowing clothing and the right foot of the figure, the work reveals a refined 18th century quality (Barberini 1991).
Cristiano Giometti
Bibliography
A. Ciechannowiecki, Paintings and Sculptures of the Baroque. Autumn Exhibition, Heim Gallery, London 1970, p. 27; M. G. Barberini (ed.), Sculture in terracotta del Barocco romano. Bozzetti e modelli del Museo Nazionale del Palazzo di Venezia, exh. cat., Roma 1991, p. 66; C. Gasparri, O. Ghiandoni, Lo studio cavaceppi e le Collezioni Torlonia, in "Rivista dell'Istituto di Archeologia e Storia dell'Arte", XVI, 1993, p. 226; M. G. Barberini and C. Gasparri (eds.), Bartolomeo Cavaceppi scultore romano (1717-1799), exh. cat., Roma 1994, p. 121; O. Ferrari and S. Papaldo, Le sculture del Seicento a Roma, Roma 1999, p. 509; F. Martin, in G. Cucco (ed.), Papa Albani e le arti a Urbino e Roma 1700-1721, catalogo della mostra, Venezia 2001, pp. 297-298, n. 134, C. Vigliarolo, Allegoria dell'inverno, in M. G. Barberini and M. S. Sconci (ed.i), Guida al Museo Nazionale del Palazzo di Venezia, Roma 2009, p. 89