Pietro Guarnerio
An Innocent Rose
Lot Closed
July 14, 10:53 AM GMT
Estimate
40,000 - 50,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
Pietro Guarnerio
Italian
1842-1881
An Innocent Rose
signed and dated: P. GUARNERIO / 1872 Milano
white marble, on a veined white marble base
132cm., 52in. overall
The technical skill and compositional charm for which Pietro Guarnerio was famous is evident in this enchanting marble of a young girl offering a rose to an unseen interlocutor. The girl's shy, childish gaze and tentative smile convey the innocence of her youth, while the heavy, textured drapery is a hallmark of the accomplished marble carver, displaying all Guarnerio's 'consummate mastery over his material', as observed by a contemporary critic of his work.
Born in Laveno, Varese, Guarnerio studied under Pietro Magni at the distinguished Brera Academy in Milan, the city in which he was principally to work. He specialised in portrait and funerary subjects, as well as narrative genre scenes, of which his well-known model Forced Prayer, an endearing allegory of childhood, is a typical example. While active almost exclusively in Milan, for whose Duomo he executed several works, Guarnerio exhibited widely outside the city, including in Turin in 1870 and in London in 1872 and 1873.
RELATED LITERATURE
A. Panzetta, Nuovo Dizionario degli scultori italiana dell'ottocento e del primo novecento, Turin, 2003, vol. I, p. 446
Born in Laveno, Varese, Guarnerio studied under Pietro Magni at the distinguished Brera Academy in Milan, the city in which he was principally to work. He specialised in portrait and funerary subjects, as well as narrative genre scenes, of which his well-known model Forced Prayer, an endearing allegory of childhood, is a typical example. While active almost exclusively in Milan, for whose Duomo he executed several works, Guarnerio exhibited widely outside the city, including in Turin in 1870 and in London in 1872 and 1873.
RELATED LITERATURE
A. Panzetta, Nuovo Dizionario degli scultori italiana dell'ottocento e del primo novecento, Turin, 2003, vol. I, p. 446
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