AN ITALIAN WHITE MARBLE FIGURE OF ERMINIA, by Ferdinando Pelliccia, the maiden shown seated on a tree trunk, inscribing the name of her beloved Tancredi into the tree with her right hand, her faithful dog at her feet, signed on the back Pelliccia F., second half 19th Century

Details
AN ITALIAN WHITE MARBLE FIGURE OF ERMINIA, by Ferdinando Pelliccia, the maiden shown seated on a tree trunk, inscribing the name of her beloved Tancredi into the tree with her right hand, her faithful dog at her feet, signed on the back Pelliccia F., second half 19th Century
29 1/8in. (74cm.) high
Literature
COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:
A. Panzetta, Dizionario degli Scultori Italiani dell'Ottocento, Torino, 1989, p. 181

Lot Essay

Ferdinando Pelliccia (1808-1892) studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Carrara. He subsequently won the Rome prize and there perfected his art under the guidance of Pietro Tenerani. In 1831 he returned to Carrara, where he taught from 1835, being elected Director of the Academy in 1846. He specialised in subjects drawn from classical and biblical texts, and many of his works are now in museums.
The present fine marble illustrates an episode from the epic poem Jerusalem Delivered of 1559 by Torquato Tasso, IV:xix-xx, which centres around the First Crusade. Erminia was the daughter of the king of Antioch, and was imprisoned by the hero Tancred during the seige of the city. She fell in love with her gentle captor, she made her escape into the countryside, where she inscribed her lover's name into the bark of trees.

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