Bust of a classical woman, possibly Diana

Marble, on a variegated grey marble socle

41.5 cm. high / 16 ¼ ins (the bust), 56 cm. / 22 ins high, overall

PROVENANCE:

Private collection, Spain

This marble bust of a classical maiden bears the hallmarks of late Baroque Venetian sculpture. It depicts the subject with full cheeks and long, flowing locks of hair, her mouth slightly open and her head raised to sinister in an expression of ecstasy or joy. Her eyes, looking upwards, are delineated by two lightly incised hooks. She wears a classical tunic which is fastened with four buttons at each shoulder and is crumpled in well-executed folds, with a ribbon running around her right shoulder. Her hair is executed in long, flowing strands which are wind-swept and deeply drilled in the Baroque manner.

The classical drapery and ribbon may identify the subject of this bust as Diana, the Roman goddess of hunting and the moon (Artemis to the Greeks), who is typically portrayed with a ribbon or strap securing the quiver for her bow and arrows, as well as a crescent moon (a feature not shown here). A bust of Diana attributed to Juste Le Court (1627-78), who settled in Venice around 1655, is also carved with a ribbon around the right shoulder in a fashion not dissimilar to the present work (see Sotheby’s, New York, 23 May 2012, lot 490).

The present bust is part of a tradition of expressive mythological busts made in the Veneto in the second half of the 17th and early 18th century, in which a clear differentiation is made between the smoothly polished skin and drapery and the rougher rendering of the hair using a claw chisel, particularly at the back of the head. Examples of related busts carved in the Veneto in this manner include a bust of Diana attributed to Michele Fabris, called L’Ongaro (1644-88) (illus. in Bacchi, op. cit.), exhibiting similarly wind-swept hair and a comparable curl of hair running down her left shoulder.[1]Similar treatment of the hair can also be found in the works of Giovanni Bonazza (1654-1736), a Venetian sculptor who operated a large workshop in Padua from 1697. See, for example, a bust of a woman attributed to Bonazza in Paris (with Galerie Sismann),[2] where the hair is also roughly finished at the back with a claw chisel. The rounded, unclassical face of our bust may also be compared to Bonazza’s naturalism. Another Venetian bust of a Bacchante from the Burghley House collection, England (ref: WA08506), dated to the late 17th century, can also be compared to the present bust in terms of the steep upward tilt of the head and exaggerated expression of ecstasy.[3]

RELATED LITERATURE: Andrea Bacchi (ed.), La Scultura a Venezia da Sansovino a Canova, Milan, 2000, pp. 731-32, fig. 365

[1] For an image, see Christie’s website: https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-5956112

[2] For images, see AnticStore website: https://www.anticstore.art/79791P

[3] For an image, see Burghley House collection website: https://collections.burghley.co.uk/collection/an-italian-white-marble-bust-of-a-bacchante-venice-late-17th-century/