Giovanni Lazzerini the Younger was a celebrated Carrarese sculptor.  He joined the Accademia di Belle Arti in 1848, during which time he was taught by Ferdinando Pelliccia. In 1853, after winning a scholarship for his marble relief of Patroclus Slaying Sarpedon, he moved to Rome and studied under Pietrò Tenerani. Lazzerini returned to Carrara shortly after 1859 to work in his family’s studio in the Corso Rosselli which later he took control of, after the death of his half-brother, Alessandro, in 1862. After a distinguished career, the Carrara Academy appointed him as the Director from 1889 to 1893 and then an Honarary Professor in 1894.

 

Lazzerini’s catalogue of works includes his own diverse array of subjects, and also works in the style of other sculptors both in Italy and abroad. His work clearly reflects the powerful influences of Neoclassicism from his mentor Tenerani: who had been influenced by his teachers Bartolini and Thorwaldsen. In this present work Tenerani’s tutelage is visible. Seen both in regards to the refined and sophisticated techniques Lazzerini used, and in the young attractive subject he chose as it was during his time of scholarship in Rome under Tenerani, in 1856, that Lazzerini created the original, identical version of this work. The original La fanciulla che intreccia una ghirlanda resides in the Accademia di Belle Arti, Carrara. The date and inscription on the base of the present work indicate that this was also produced during Lazzerini’s apprenticeship under Tenerani, most likely right before his return to Carrara.