In beautiful white crystalline Carrara marble, this fine work, of a religious yet gentle nature, is signed for the nineteenth century Florentine artist Pasquale Romanelli, and takes as its subject a lifesize depiction of the Virgin and Child, accompanied with St John the Baptist. It is mounted on a fine black marble base.
An exquisite depiction of mother and child, it is superbly carved with sensitive and gentle gestures and faces; the Virgin holds Christ up to her left shoulder, while the slightly older St John stands by her right. The work is religious in nature, but the symbolism is highly limited, such that only the poses themselves, the figures involved, and the general feel of the work indicate who the three individuals are, resulting in a comforting depiction of motherly affection above all else.
Pasquale Romanelli (Italian, 1812-1887) was a Florentine sculptor, the apprentice and most talented pupil of Lorenzzo Bartolini, and with him was one of the founders of the Galleria Romanelli, a workshop still in high demand and producing art of the highest quality today. Many of Romanelli's works feature adaptations of earlier artworks into marble sculptures, however the precise model of this work, if there is such a work, is not obvious. Romanelli was acclaimed for his mythological and biblical works in a predominantly Neoclassical style, and the survival of his family workshop, currently in its 5th generation, is a rare treat, worthy of its founders.
Figure: height, 170cm, width 70cm, depth 40cm
Base: height 93.5cm, width 59.5cm, depth 43cm