Raffaello Romanelli

Alfonso Panzetta, Dizionario degli Scultori Italiani, vol. II, Adarte, 2003, p. 816

As visible in the catalogue illustration, there is stain and dirt on surface which can be cleaned. Repairs to tips of both poles to outer extremities.
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.

In 1915, the San Francisco Examiner described Raffaello Romanelli as "to Italy what Rodin is to France" (June 11, 1915). Professor Raffaello was the second generation of a dynasty of Florentine sculptors active from the 1820s. Like his father, Pasquale, and his son, Romano, he worked in a traditional style, making numerous public monuments, as well as more commercial subject marbles and portrait busts. At the height of his career, around the turn of the century, Raffaello had an international reputation and was regarded by many as "Italy's greatest living sculptor" (The Anglo-American Gazette, Nice, March 14, 1908). His model for the equestrian monument to Czar Alexander II of 1914 received widespread acclaim. At a meeting in Romanelli's studio in 1925, A. Bartlett described how Romanelli always puts "the finishing touches on all [his marbles], injects life lines into them; and it was while he stood there that I saw the sculptor with a fine chisel add wonderful expression to the eyes and mouth of a nymph, and with marvellous dexterity soften the dimples of a laughing child."