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Lot Essay
Brimming with the full emotional force so typical of Baroque art, the present relief was previously attributed to the Venetian master Girolamo Campagna. However, the sharp, broken folds of the garments and strong characterisation of the heads suggest a Germanic origin, and an attribution to one of the finest sculptors working for the court of Saxony and the House of Wettin, Christoph Walther IV.
Christoph IV was from a large family of sculptors active in Dresden in the 16th and 17th centuries. The compact and overlapping composition of the present relief, creating a dramatic narrative, combined with the expressive, upright but flowing motion of the figures, closely compares with the frontal scene of the high altar for the Sophienkirche, Dresden (Hentschel, loc.cit.). The altar was commissioned from the Lugano sculptor Giovanni Maria Nosseni in 1606, but the collaboration of Christoph IV and his younger brother Sebastian can be assumed with certainty. Christoph’s signature of 'CWF' below the lower figures on the altar suggests that the powerful figures of Peter and Paul are also by his hand. The face of Peter is very similar to that of the central Apostle falling to his knees, his eyes searching up in the heavens, in the present relief. The sinuous locks of Paul’s beard can also been seen in the treatment of the hair of a number of figures in the Assumption.
Christoph seems to have been highly influenced by the Italianate style of Nosseni and Carlo di Cesare del Palagio, who was working in Freiburg and Dresden in the 1590's, particularly in the clear understanding of figural proportions and the naturalistic facial expressions in his work (Diemer. loc. cit.).
The present lot was purchased from the sale of the collection of Comte Oriola, which was formed between 1860 and 1896 by either Eduard Ernst Lobo da Silveira or one of his sons Waldemar and Joachim, who were each known as the Graf von Oriola. They were the son and grandsons of a Portuguese minister, Joaquin Joaquim José Lobo da Silveira (1772-1846), who was elevated to the Prussian nobility by Friedrich Wilhelm III.
Christoph IV was from a large family of sculptors active in Dresden in the 16th and 17th centuries. The compact and overlapping composition of the present relief, creating a dramatic narrative, combined with the expressive, upright but flowing motion of the figures, closely compares with the frontal scene of the high altar for the Sophienkirche, Dresden (Hentschel, loc.cit.). The altar was commissioned from the Lugano sculptor Giovanni Maria Nosseni in 1606, but the collaboration of Christoph IV and his younger brother Sebastian can be assumed with certainty. Christoph’s signature of 'CWF' below the lower figures on the altar suggests that the powerful figures of Peter and Paul are also by his hand. The face of Peter is very similar to that of the central Apostle falling to his knees, his eyes searching up in the heavens, in the present relief. The sinuous locks of Paul’s beard can also been seen in the treatment of the hair of a number of figures in the Assumption.
Christoph seems to have been highly influenced by the Italianate style of Nosseni and Carlo di Cesare del Palagio, who was working in Freiburg and Dresden in the 1590's, particularly in the clear understanding of figural proportions and the naturalistic facial expressions in his work (Diemer. loc. cit.).
The present lot was purchased from the sale of the collection of Comte Oriola, which was formed between 1860 and 1896 by either Eduard Ernst Lobo da Silveira or one of his sons Waldemar and Joachim, who were each known as the Graf von Oriola. They were the son and grandsons of a Portuguese minister, Joaquin Joaquim José Lobo da Silveira (1772-1846), who was elevated to the Prussian nobility by Friedrich Wilhelm III.