Scipione Tadolini (1822-1892) Italian, Rome, 1860

Collection of Dr Herman Baylus (1916-2004) and Charlotte Sarbaugh Baylus (1925-2001), Baltimore, United States;
The Enigma Mansion, Cape Town, South Africa

Overall the condition of the marble is very good, with some dirt and wear to the surface consistent with age, including a little dust in the crevices and some minor nicks and scratches. There are a few chips to the lower edge of the base. There is naturally occurring veining to the marble, including faintly visible areas at the forehead and to the back, as well as slightly darker sections to the ends of the drapery at the proper left ankle, the proper left knee at the back, the proper right hip, a spot to the back of the proper left arm, both shoulders, and the chest. There is a faint thin vein running from the proper left temple to the proper right jaw. There are some naturally occurring inclusions visible on the surface, including filled ones to the proper left side of the jaw, the proper left breast, the abdomen, the inside of the proper left thigh, and the drapery at the proper left thigh. The hair at the back of the head may have been lightly repolished. There is a small strut of marble connecting the index finger of the proper right hand with the middle finger. The rough section of the base and the polished section of the base are separate. Two sections of the rough part of the base have been reattached: one takes up part of the signature and the other is under the drapery. The marble has been professionally waxed. Overall the condition of the rosso marble pedestal is good with some minor chips to its edges. There are several naturally occurring stable open veins running along the surface, sections of which have been filled. The pedestal consists of three sections.
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This elegantly conceived figure of a Greek Slave is one of Scipione Tadolini's defining masterpieces. Tadolini was the eldest son and inheritor of Antonio Canova's principal studio assistant, Adamo Tadolini, and, like his father, he rapidly emerged as one of the leading sculptors in Rome during his lifetime. The superbly carved and polished surface of this serene marble stands in the celebrated tradition of idealised statuary established by Canova, the greatest Italian sculptor of the 18th and 19th centuries and the father of neoclassicism. However, the touching portrayal of a beautiful young girl enslaved, together with her orientalist guise, looks forward to the Romantic movement in 19th-century sculpture.

An idealised female youth stands in contrapposto, her right arm raised as she contemplates her bracelet. Tadolini's magisterial composition is a response to one of the most famous sculptures of the age, Hiram Powers' Greek Slave, which was exhibited for the first time at the Great Exhibition in London in 1851, where it caused a sensation, both for its beauty and for its scandalous nudity (the marble is currently in the collection of Lord Barnard at Raby Castle, Durham). Like Powers' model, the theme of Tadolini's sculpture is taken from the Greek War of Independence of the 1820's. The young woman has been abducted by the Turks and is about to be sold in a slave market. Tadolini's Greek Slave is consequently a highly emotive and politically charged image, designed to appeal to a Western audience through portraying a Christian innocent enslaved within a Muslim culture. The Turkish context within which the Greek Slave finds herself is emphasised by Tadolini in the beautifully carved headress, which falls about her shoulders, and recalls Ingres' La Grande Odalisque (1814; musée du Louvre, Paris, inv. no. RF. 1158).

The present marble is one of two variants of the model created by Tadolini, the principal difference between them being the fact that, in the present composition, the young woman raises her right arm to the level of her chest, recalling the pose of the Venus de' Medici (Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence). In contrast, in the second variant, the slave touches her chin with her right hand, in a gesture reminiscent of Canova's Danzatrice con dito al mento (Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli, Turin). The present model is likely to be the earlier of the two variants. It would also appear to be the rarer, and, together with the present marble, is known from versions in the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney (dated 1859), and from a version sold in these rooms on 22 June 1990 (dated 1871). The second variant is known principally from the marble in the collection of the Glasgow Museums: Art Gallery and Museums, Kelvingrove, which is housed in the Kibble Palace of the Glasgow Botanic Gardens (dated 1873). There is also a marble version in the Museo de Bellas Artes, Seville (dated 1862), whilst another is recorded as having been in the collection of the Earls of Strafford at Wrotham Park, Hertfordshire (Hufschmidt, op. cit., p. 200). The Greek Slave was one of the most celebrated and original compositions created by Tadolini, as is illustrated by the fact that he was commissioned to produce several versions for wealthy patrons from around the world. Tadolini's sculpture was particularly popular with visiting British and American Grand Tourists, and it is likely that the present marble was acquired in Rome by an American collector, who then brought it to the United States.

The Tadolini family occupies a fascinating position in the history of Roman sculpture. Four generations of the family of stone carvers lived and worked in the same studio for some 150 years. The building still exists today, on the corner of the Via del Babuino overlooked by the Greek Church of S. Anastasia. It is now the Canova-Tadolini Museum.

Scipione Tadolini was trained in the studio of his father, Adamo Tadolini, who was Antonio Canova’s most trusted studio assistant, establishing an international reputation for himself as one of the last great Italian Neoclassical sculptors. Born in Bologna, Adamo trained at the city’s Accademia di Belle Arte, where he received a rigorous education in the classical principles of sculpture. In 1814, he moved to Rome, winning the prize Canova had instituted for talented young sculptors. Impressed by Tadolini’s pure classicism, the master took him on as an assistant. Tadolini became so expert a marble carver that the versions he produced of his master’s models were (and still are) often thought to be originals by Canova himself; including, for example, the Cupid Reviving Psyche in the Villa Carlotta, Lake Como. As a sign of their closeness, Canova helped Tadolini to set up his famous workshop in the Via dei Greci.

Scipione Tadolini was schooled in his father's neoclassical style and in the art of virtuoso marble carving. However, the elegant nude Ninfa Pescatrice, which launched his career, set him apart from his father's cool, idealised, aesthetic. Moving away from a strict classicism, Scipione imbues classical subject matter with the Romantic spirit. During his lifetime, he was overwhelmed with commissions, including a marble for the church of Gonfalone in Rome, a St. Michael for a wealthy Bostonian and the very important Bust of King Vittorio Emanuele I, which was the first sculpted portrait to be made of the new King. Visiting the Tadolini studio in 1869, Pope Pius IX declared him to be one of the finest sculptors of his generation.

The present marble exhibits superb carving, particularly in the beautifully undercut drapery, the idealised facial physiognomy, and the astonishing realism of the chain and handcuffs. This high quality of carving is characteristic of Tadolini's finest work, together with the signature beautifully polished surfaces, which are in excellent condition in the present marble. Until recently, the statue formed the centrepiece of the interior of one of South Africa's grandest residences, the Enigma Mansion, in Camps Bay, Cape Town.

RELATED LITERATURE
T. F. Hufschmidt, Tadolini: Adamo, Scipione, Giulio, Enrico. Quattro generazioni di scultori a Roma nei secoli XIX e XX, Rome, 1996, pp. 200-201; http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T082984?q=tadolini&search=quick&pos=1&_start=1#firsthit accessed 2 June 2015