A PAIR OF GILDED TERRACOTTA FIGURES OF ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST AND ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST

ITALIAN, PROBABLY ROMAN, SECOND HALF 17TH CENTURY

Details

A PAIR OF GILDED TERRACOTTA FIGURES OF ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST AND ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST

ITALIAN, PROBABLY ROMAN, SECOND HALF 17TH CENTURY
Each figure on an integral base and a canted terracotta plinth; the reverses roughly finished.
Some wear to gilding; the Baptist's cross later; the neck of the Baptist repaired; other minor damages.
14¾ and 14 5/8 in. (37.5 and 37.1 cm.) high, overall (2)

Literature

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:
J. Montagu, Gold, Silver and Bronze - Metal Sculpture of the Roman Baroque, New Haven and London, 1996, pp. 62-72, figs. 84, 93-102.

Lot Essay

The present terracotta figures appear to have been worked up originally as bozzetti, probably for larger marble versions, and then gilded to enhance their status as independent works of art. They may well have formed part of a series of saints which could be used to adorn an architectural facade or colonnade. The dramatic gestures of the figures, and the zigzagging movement created by the limbs and drapery are related to figures created in Bernini's Rome, and may be compared to the series of apostles which adorn the tabernacle in the chapel of the Most Blessed Sacrament, St. Peter's, executed by Bernini and Giovanni Rinaldi circa 1672-1675 (Montagu, loc. cit.).

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