Giovanni Tacca (1803 - 1831)

The Santangelo and Pardo Castriota Scanderberg Family, by Descent, Sotheby's Milan, 15 June 2011, lots 247 - 252

Giuseppe Campari, Memorie Biografiche degli Scultori, Architetti, Pittori nativi di Carrara, Modena, 1873, pp. 239 - 241

Alfonso Panzetta, Dizionario degli Scultori Italiani dell'Ottocento, Turin, 1989, p. 204, ad vocem

This marble portrait of the Marquis Nicola Santangelo is a documented work by the Carrara sculptor Giovanni Tacca, mentioned and described by Giuseppe Campari in his Biografia degli artisti carraresi (1873, pp. 239–241), who praised Tacca’s ability and sensitivity in capturing both the expression and the character of the sitter.

Giovanni Tacca (1803–1831)

Born in Carrara, Tacca trained at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Carrara before moving to Rome in 1821, where he worked for two years with Carlo Finelli (1785–1853), who had been Antonio Canova’s assistant in 1805. Tacca was later active in Naples and Palermo, producing works with mythological subjects as well as portraits. In the final years of his short life, he settled in Naples, where he executed a number of distinguished portrait commissions.

The Marquis Nicola Santangelo (1785–1851)

Santangelo rose to prominence in the 1810s thanks to his campaigns against brigandage in Basilicata and Calabria. In recognition of his successes, King Francesco I appointed him Home Secretary of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies in 1831, a position he held until 1847. That same year King Ferdinand II conferred upon him the title of Marquis in recognition of his loyal service to the Bourbon crown. A collector and patron of the arts, Santangelo assembled the celebrated Museo Santangelo, housed in Palazzo Diomede Carafa, where the family’s collection was displayed.

Carolina Santangelo

The Santangelo family also claimed ties through Carolina Santangelo to one of the most illustrious Balkan dynasties, the Castriota-Scanderbeg line. Its most renowned figure, Giorgio Castriota Scanderbeg (1405–1468), became a legendary hero for his resistance against the Ottoman Empire.

For a pair of Paris porcelain vases, decorated in Naples by Raffaele Giovine, see lot 429.