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Lot Essay
Ferdinando Tacca (1619-1686) was the son of Pietro Tacca (1577-1640), and succeeded him as Court Sculptor to the Medici Grand Dukes of Tuscany. As well as being a talented sculptor, Tacca worked as both an engineer, and a stage designer. It is thought that the dramatic quality of many of his sculptural works, and their tendency to revolve around a single viewpoint may have been as a result of this latter training.
There are few documented works by Tacca but a number of compositions have been attributed to him on the basis of their similarity to recorded works such as his bronze relief of the Stoning of St Stephen from 1656 in the church of Santo Stefano al Ponte in Florence. The present relief of Moses and the Brazen Serpent shares numerous stylistic elements with the St. Stephen relief including the lack of any real sense of gradual recession. Rather, in both cases there are groups of figures - often in profile or facing directly out to the viewer - close to the 'picture plane' which sit in front of a distant landscape. In addition to this, there are facial types and expressions which are common to both reliefs. The 'open-mouthed' expressions of the female figure to the right of the relief and all four figures along the left edge strongly recall the female figures to the right of the soldier on horseback oin the St Stephen relief. Similarly, it should be noted that the hooded and bearded male figure in profile to the left of the St Stephen relief is almost identical to the bearded figure standing to the left of Moses in the lot offered here.
The present relief is known to have come from Llanbedr Hall in Denbighshire, and it is possible that it was acquired by Joseph Ablett (1773-1848), who purchased the house in 1809. Ablett, who was High Sheriff of Denbighshire and a noted philanthropist, was also an art collector, and he travelled extensively in Europe, particularly in Italy. He is known to have patronised the sculptor, John Gibson (1790-1866), who executed a portrait bust of Ablett, as well as a marble figure of Proserpine in the Fields of Enna in 1832.
There are few documented works by Tacca but a number of compositions have been attributed to him on the basis of their similarity to recorded works such as his bronze relief of the Stoning of St Stephen from 1656 in the church of Santo Stefano al Ponte in Florence. The present relief of Moses and the Brazen Serpent shares numerous stylistic elements with the St. Stephen relief including the lack of any real sense of gradual recession. Rather, in both cases there are groups of figures - often in profile or facing directly out to the viewer - close to the 'picture plane' which sit in front of a distant landscape. In addition to this, there are facial types and expressions which are common to both reliefs. The 'open-mouthed' expressions of the female figure to the right of the relief and all four figures along the left edge strongly recall the female figures to the right of the soldier on horseback oin the St Stephen relief. Similarly, it should be noted that the hooded and bearded male figure in profile to the left of the St Stephen relief is almost identical to the bearded figure standing to the left of Moses in the lot offered here.
The present relief is known to have come from Llanbedr Hall in Denbighshire, and it is possible that it was acquired by Joseph Ablett (1773-1848), who purchased the house in 1809. Ablett, who was High Sheriff of Denbighshire and a noted philanthropist, was also an art collector, and he travelled extensively in Europe, particularly in Italy. He is known to have patronised the sculptor, John Gibson (1790-1866), who executed a portrait bust of Ablett, as well as a marble figure of Proserpine in the Fields of Enna in 1832.