St. Gregory the Great

Object belonging

One's own

Category

Terracotta sculpture

City

Rome

Location

Museo Nazionale del Palazzo di Venezia

Specific location

Room 22

Inventory

PV 10352

Material and technique

Terracotta/ patina

Author

Circle of Giuseppe Mazzuoli

Dating

1677

Dimensions

35.5x15.5x8.5 cm.

Origin

Cavaceppi Collection (1799); Torlonia Collection (last quarter of 19th century); Pollak Collection (1947)

Image copyright

SSPSAE e per il Polo Museale della città di Roma

Short description

This terracotta statuette, depicting St. Gregory the Great, was covered, at an unknown date, with a dark varnish, probably to simulate the effect of a bronze surface. There is a deep crack by the neck, while the right-hand section of the base would seem to be a later addition. The saint wears the papal tiara, which is presumably decorated with precious stones and pearls, while a band with floral patterns runs along the edges of the cope; the high quality of the execution is echoed in the physiognomic characterization and in the pensive expression of the pope. The work came to Palazzo Venezia in 1947, a gift from Margaret Nicod Sussmann in memory of her brother-in-law Ludwig Pollak, but it was already published by Brinckmann (1923) who recognized it as a very early idea for one of the Berninian figures of the Church Fathers, for the throne of St. Peter in the basilica. Santangelo (1954) rejected the attribution, not seeing particular affinities with the various graphic projects in the work of Bernini. A few years later, in an article on the smaller sculpture of Giuseppe Mazzuoli, Ursula Schlegel (1967) looked again the Palazzo Venezia terracotta, attributing it, even though tentatively, to the Siennese sculptor, above all because of the precarious position of the figure, on the verge of losing his balance. Schlegel’s proposal was accepted and discussed further by Barberini (1991) who fixed the date of execution at 1677, during the period after Mazzuoli’s apprenticeship in the studio of Ferrata, where he was in contact with Melchiorre Caffà; according to Barberini, there are clear references to the figure of St. Thomas of Villanova, sculpted by the Maltese artist in the church of Sant’Agostino from 1661.

Cristiano Giometti 

Bibliography

A. E. Brinckmann, Barockbozzetti, II, 1923-24, p. 59; A. Santangelo (ed.), Museo di Palazzo Venezia. Catalogo delle sculture, Rome 1954, pp. 79-80; U. Schlegel, Some Stauettes of Giuseppe Mazzuoli, "The Burlington Magazine", 109, 772, (1967), p. 392; M. G. Barberini (ed.), Sculture in terracotta del Barocco romano. Bozzetti e modelli del Museo Nazionale del Palazzo di Venezia, exh. cat., Rome 1991, p. 55: M. G. Barberini and C. Gasparri (eds.), Bartolomeo Cavaceppi scultore romano (1717-1799), exh. cat., Rome 1994, p. 123; O. Ferrari and S. Papaldo, Le sculture del Seicento a Roma, Rome 1999, p. 508