BY PROFESSORE VITTORIO CARADOSSI, CIRCA 1900

Born in Florence in 1861, Vittorio Caradossi studied sculpture under Augusto Rivalta at the Accademia di Belli Arti. He was commissioned to execute a number of public monuments and is most remembered for his celebrated monument to the Renaissance artist Desiderio da Settignano, the model for which was exhibited at the 1900 Paris Universal Exhibition. In contrast to these municipal works, Caradossi also composed a number of marvellously abandoned female nudes, such as his 'Dolce Far Niente','Three Nereids', 'Dusk', 'A Moon Nymph Admiring Her Own Reflection', and the present figure of a nymph with flowers. Echoing the sensuality of his predecessors Pradier and Clésinger, who portrayed their nymphs in a similar attitude of abandon, Caradossi's works exhibit a greater humour and modernity, partly dispelling the rather severe voluptuousness of the former sculptors.