Luigi Valadier

Private collection, France

This vivid bronze sculpture is cast after the famous ancient Roman marble of Paetus and Arria now in the Museo Nazionale Romano, Palazzo Altemps, Rome (inv. no. 8608), which was first recorded in 1623 in an inventory of the Ludovisi collection in Rome. The marble was subsequently presented in the Palazzo Grande in the family's estate, where it remained until the early 19th century. There have been various interpretations of the subject since Its rediscovery, but it is now agreed that the figures depicted are a Gaul who stabs his own neck, holding his wife who he killed to prevent being taken captive.

The model of Paetus and Arria was very much in vogue among the Grand Tourists in Rome, and consequently inspired local artists to reproduce bronze reductions, including the present example. The fine details and high-quality cast indicate that a proficient bronze casting workshop produced the present bronze. The dark patina and finely chased surface suggest that the artist was familiar with the practice of the most celebrated bronze caster and silversmith active in 18th-century Rome, Luigi Valadier, who was particularly popular among royalty, popes, and the aristocracy across Europe. 

RELATED LITERATURE

F. Haskell and N. Penny, Taste and the Antique: The Lure of Classical Sculpture 1500-1900, New Haven and London, 1981, pp. 282-284; A. González-Palacios, ​​Luigi Valadier: Splendor in Eighteenth-Century Rome, exh. cat. The Frick Collection, New York, 2018