Allegory of Winter by Giovanni Maria Benzoni
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£2,800.00
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£2,800.00
Giovani Maria Benzoni (1808-1873).
Allergory of Winter in statuary marble.
Signed and dated verso.
G M Berzoni F Roma AD 1864.
Height 28in (71cm).
Width 20in (51cm).
Depth 13in (33cm).
Ironically "Winter" is weathered with a verdigi covered surface and some losses, but he still demands attention as an exeptional piece of work.
This imposing bust of 'Winter' is similar to another from the workshop of the artist sold as part of a group of "Quattro Stagioni", at Christie's London, The Collection of Giorgio Marsan and Umberta Nasi, 12/13 December 2007, lot 300. The Marsan/Nasi busts were possibly executed for Grand Duchess Olga of Russia (d.1892). Benzoni was much favoured by Russian aristocrats and also executed architectural sculptures for the Imperial Theatre, St Petersburg. In Rome he was patronised by Pope Pius IX and represented the Vatican at the Antwerp International Exhibition.
In the biographical register of the first modern monograph dedicated to the Bergamo-born sculptor—who enjoyed enormous success in the mid-19th century—the number of versions Benzoni produced of his most famous marbles was generally indicated: for example, as many as forty-five of his Hope in God, or thirty-five of the Gratitude.
Active in Rome from the late 1820s, Benzoni achieved European renown, ultimately becoming the last representative of a great artistic tradition that originated with Antonio Canova in Italy and conquered the entire continent (Roberta Bertazzoni, Giovanni Maria Benzoni: la riscoperta di uno scultore oltre il Neoclassicismo, in "La rivista di Bergamo", LXXXV, 2016, pp. 42-49).