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Lot Essay
Giovanni Maria Benzoni (1809-1873) was a pupil of Giuseppe Fabris at the Academy of Saint Luc in Rome. Equally renowned for his classical subjects and religious work, Benzoni was a favoured sculptor of Pope Pius IX, and received commissions from many English and Russian aristocratic families. He also executed architectural sculptures for the Imperial Theatre, St Petersburg, exhibited at the Great Exhibitions and represented the Vatican at the Antwerp International Exhibition. Benzoni was profoundly influenced by Antonio Canova and this is most purely expressed in the masterful animation of his large figural groups Flora and Zephyr and his slightly earlier, but technically similar, Cupid and Psyche in the Galleria d'arte moderna, Milan.
Benzoni exhibited his Flora and Zephyr dancing at the International Exhibition in London in 1862, where it was considered to be 'directly after the Canova manner' and a prime example of the contemporary 'school of Italian romance' (J. Beavington Atkinson, 'The Sculpture of the Exhibition', The Art Journal Illustrated Catalogue of the International Exhibition 1862, London, 1862, p. 315 & 318 illustrated). Following this success its popularity was such that it was commissioned no less than five times (G. Rota, Un artista bergamasco dell'ottocento: Giovanni Maria Benzoni, Bergamo, 1937, p. 492). The original was bought by an otherwise unknown Englishman, Mr. G. Wynne Holford of London. Another, dated 1870, is preserved at the Detroit Institute of Arts.
The scene depicted is from Ovid's Fasti (5: 193-214). Flora, the goddess of flowers was pursued by Zephyr, the west wind of springtime. As they dance they are shown scattering a garden of flowers from a wicker cornucopia behind them.
Benzoni exhibited his Flora and Zephyr dancing at the International Exhibition in London in 1862, where it was considered to be 'directly after the Canova manner' and a prime example of the contemporary 'school of Italian romance' (J. Beavington Atkinson, 'The Sculpture of the Exhibition', The Art Journal Illustrated Catalogue of the International Exhibition 1862, London, 1862, p. 315 & 318 illustrated). Following this success its popularity was such that it was commissioned no less than five times (G. Rota, Un artista bergamasco dell'ottocento: Giovanni Maria Benzoni, Bergamo, 1937, p. 492). The original was bought by an otherwise unknown Englishman, Mr. G. Wynne Holford of London. Another, dated 1870, is preserved at the Detroit Institute of Arts.
The scene depicted is from Ovid's Fasti (5: 193-214). Flora, the goddess of flowers was pursued by Zephyr, the west wind of springtime. As they dance they are shown scattering a garden of flowers from a wicker cornucopia behind them.