Funerary Genius

Object belonging

One's own

Category

Terracotta sculpture

City

Rome

Location

Museo Nazionale del Palazzo di Venezia

Specific location

Terracotta store

Inventory

PV 13293

Material and technique

Terracotta

Author

Anonymous

Dating

First half of 17th century

Dimensions

7 cm.

Origin

Cavaceppi Collection (1799); Torlonia Collection (last quarter of 19th century); Gorga Collection (1948)

Image copyright

SSPSAE e per il Polo Museale della città di Roma

Short description

In the list of sculptures that were found in the studio of Bartolomeo Cavaceppi, (Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Ferraioli ms. 974), an entry “Deposito opera del Fiammingo”, (“Deposit, work by Il Fiammingo”) a work that, in 1802, was given the inventory number “30”, also by Vincenzo Pacetti, with the caption “Two Putti with Urn”. In an exhibition on Cavaceppi (1994), Barberini identified the model here with a fragmentary terracotta held at the Palazzo Venezia museum. Marion Boudon, in the monograph on François du Quesnoy (2005), rejected the attribution to Il Fiammingo since the poor condition of the remaining fragments did not allow their stylistic qualities to be fully appreciated. The classical typology of a sarcophagus flanked by two mournful figures was widespread in Rome from the mid-17th century and it is in this period that this terracotta might have been executed. In particular, the lively movements of the putti and the presence of drapery at the top of the urn recall the composition for the tomb of Monsignor Giulio del Corno, executed by Ercole Ferrata, with Francesco Aprile, in the church of Gesù e Maria in Rome (1680-1683).

Cristiano Giometti 

Bibliography

M. G. Barberini and C. Gasparri (eds/), Bartolomeo Cavaceppi: scultore romano (1717-1799), exh. cat., Roma 1994, p. 120-121; O. Ferrari and S. Papaldo, Le sculture del Seicento a Roma, Roma 1999, p. 510