Pietro Bazzanti

This beautifully carved bust showcases the skill of the Florentine Pietro Bazzanti, who was one of the many gifted sculptors in marble working in Italy in the late 19th and early 20th century. He, as was typical of his contemporaries, specialised in romantic and allegorical subjects, often in the form of young women.

The woman's jewelled head-dress includes 5 coins in which the name Sulamitide is inscribed. The subject of this sensitively carved bust is inspired by 'La Sulamitide' (Rome, 1739), a play by Giuseppe Maria Ercolani (1672-1759). An opera with the same title by Domenico Fischetti (1725-1810) was first released 1753 in Florence.