Nudo con palma (Nude with palm frond)

Florentine by birth, Bastiani was a pupil of Augusto Rivalta (1838–1925) in Milan and worked at one time in the studio of Cesare Zocchi (1851–1922). Favoring genre and allegorical subjects, Bastiani specialized in female figures always carved with a skillful balance, as seen here and in his work Nereid sold Christie's, New York, 28 October 2019, lot 563 ($137,500). A very similar composition to the present work was realised by Ernesto Gazzeri (b. 1866), as illustrated in A. Panzetta, Dizionario degli Scultori Italiani dell'ottocento e del primo novecento, vol.2, 1984, p.92, fig.395, perhaps indicating a dialogue between the successful sculptors.