Attributed to Orazio Marinali (Bassano del Grappa 1643 - 1720 Vicenza), North Italian, late 17th/early 18th century

This bust can be compared with works by the sculptor Orazio Marinali, active in the Veneto region at the end of the 17^th and beginning of the 18^th century. A prolific artist, Orazio's work is found in churches throughout the Veneto, and he also produced secular subjects, including several caricatures of old men, known as bravi. The expressions, the treatment of the physiognomy and the chiaroscuro effects of Marinali’s bravi are echoed in the present marble. Two particularly close parallels can be found in Orazio's Bravo: An Old Man, possibly depicting Aristotle, from the Fondazione Scientifica Querini Stampalia, Venice (inv. 0268/1-7) and a bust of a prophet or apostle in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts (acc. no. 1970.492). Another version of the present model was sold at Sotheby's in Paris on 18th October 2006, lot. 17.

RELATED LITERATURE

J. Martineau and A. Robinson, The Glory of Venice. Art in the Eighteenth Century, London, 1994, no. 16, pp. 87, 164;

C. Semenzato, La Scultura veneta del Seicento e del Settecento, Venise, 1966, pp. 33-35, pl. 67;

A. Bacchi, La scultura a Venezia da Sansovino a Canova, Milan 2000, nos. 482 – 485;

S. Androssov, 'Unknown works of Orazio Marinali' in Antologia di Belli Arti, 1994, nos.48-51, pp. 72- 73.