Important European Terracotta & Bronze Sculpture from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections

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Lot 538
  • 538

Giovanni Battista Foggini

Estimate
5,000 - 7,000 USD
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Description

  • Giovanni Battista Foggini
  • a) Design for the high altar of the Baptistery, Florence;b) An elaborate design for the upper part of an archway

  • a) Pen and brown ink and gray, yellow and brown wash, over black chalk, an alternative design for the bases of the columns on a paper flap;
    with a scale in brown ink, lower center;
    b) Pen and brown ink with touches of black ink and gray-brown wash, over black chalk

Provenance

All with the Heim Gallery, London, from whom purchased;
a) Sale, Rome, Christie's, 12 November 1974, lot 56;
Private collection, London;
b) Sale, Florence, Sotheby's, 11 April 1974, lot 38

Literature

a) J. Montagu, 'The Bronze Groups made for the Electress Palatine', in Kunst der Barock in der Toskana: Studien zur Kunst unter den letzten Medici, Munich 1976, pp. 129, 134, note 19, reproduced fig. 5, p. 130;
S. Casciu, La Principessa Saggia: l'eredità di Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici, Elettrice Palatina, exhib. cat., Florence 2006, p. 308, under cat. no. 169

Condition

Nine in the lot- all unframed. The Foggini high altar design (a; illustrated): Yellowed at the edges, where there is also some scattered light foxing. Some small worm holes in the lower left quarter, and some light brown stains upper centre (as visible on the catalogue illustration). The Foggini arch (b): On two sheets of paper, attached vertically at the centre, where it has become worn. A small diagonal tear, lower right. Another repaired tear, upper left corner. The ink is still strong. Paper lightly yellowed at the edges, where there is also some light foxing. Remaining drawings: 3 are in quite poor condition, but the others are all in fair condition, with no major problems.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Catalogue Note

One of the two drawings by Foggini in this lot is a preparatory design for the High Altar of the Baptistery, Florence, a commission he received in 1723.  The figures of Christ and St John the Baptist seen at the centre of the composition are thought to have been based on Foggini's bronze of the same subject, now in the Collection Bernardino Osio, Buenos Aires.1  The second design was made by Foggini for the church of S. Stefano dei Cavalieri, Pisa, where the sculptor worked on the High Altar between 1702-1709.  We are most grateful to Jennifer Montagu for confirming the attribution of these drawings to Foggini and identifying the projects.

Sold with seven other Italian Baroque designs; one, previously attributed to Schorr, bears unidentified collector's mark, possibly that of the Savoia-Aosta family (L.47a).

1. See J. Montagu, op.cit., p. 129