BY STEFANO FRUGONE, CARRARA, CIRCA 1690

Stefano Frugone was a marble trader and sculptor from Carrara. One hundred kilometers north-west of Florence and situated on the Carrione River, Carrara was home to the quarries that supplied the finest marble for Italian sculptors from the Renaissance period onwards. The Frugone family became one the leading exporters of such marble during the 17th century. Filippo Frugone, who helped manage the family business from Rome, is thought to have supplied both Algardi and Bernini with some of the most expensive statuary marble from the Polvaccio quarries in Carrara.
Stefano is documented as having worked afar as Cadiz, where he carved the imposing high altar of San Domenico in 1683. At San Domenico, Frugone also carved a statue of the sculptor Jacopo Antonio Ponzanelli, who with Frugone is likely to have collaborated when he started out in Carrara. Ponzanelli was a pupil of Filippo Parodi, Genoa’s finest sculptor of the Baroque, and married Parodi’s daughter in 1680. The affinity between the present bust and Ponzanelli’s work suggests that Frugone could have also worked under Parodi at some stage.