Giacomo Manzù

Acquired by the late owner in New York in the mid-1970s

The theme of cardinals, inspired by church dignitaries often encountered on the streets of Manzù's native Bergamo, was a dominant subject in the artist's oeuvre. It provided Manzù with a source of endless inspiration and experimentation: whilst some have a volumetric pyramidal shape conveying a sense of earthbound monumentality, others, such as the present work, are elegant, elongated figures pointed to the heavens. While Manzù executed the majority of his Cardinals in bronze, the present work is rendered in marble, a material that emphasises a sense of harmony and classical beauty.

Discussing the Cardinale series, John Rewald wrote: 'The first drawing of the subject dated from 1934, the first sculpture from 1938. Between 1949 and 1950 the first large cardinal was created, and this was followed one after another by many more, sitting and standing, small, large and even more than life-size... In Manzù's hands the cardinals were transformed into compact forceful volumes enlivened by extremely tender modelling and generously draped folds. The massiveness of the volume is stressed by the economy of lines and the simplicity of plastic means' (J. Rewald, Giacomo Manzù, Greenwich, 1966, p. 59).