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Lot Essay
The son of a silversmith, Santo Varni (d. 1885) entered the Accademia Lugistica di Genova in 1821, first studying under Bartolomeo Carrea (d. 1839) and later, Giuseppe Gaggini (d. 1867). From the latter, Varni developed a style, which although ostensibly Neo-classical in expression, exhibited definite purist and naturalistic tendencies. Varni spent from 1835 to 1837 in Florence, working in the studio of Lorenze Bartolini and absorbing the abundance of Renaissance sculpture which the city had to offer. In 1838, he returned to his native Genova and having succeeded Gaggini as sculpture tutor at the Ligustica, was appointed Director of the Accademia and honorary sculptor to the King of Sardinia in 1842. Public recognition followed swiftly and throughout the 1850s and 1860s Varni received many prestigious commissions, such as: work on the monument to Columbus in Genova (1855-60); the statue of Emmanuele Filiberto for the Palazzo Reale in Torino (1866) and many portrait busts, statues and funerary monuments. Varni's work was represented at the 1851 Great Exhibition in London, as well as at many of the other International Exhibitions during these two decades.
A lover of poetry, Varni on several occasions paid hommage in his work to those poets whose verses aroused the greatest emotions within him. So it was that in his series of busts of Beatrice, Laura, Ginevra and Eleonora, executed in 1857, and later in a whole group of other works idealizing the female form, Varni publicised his admiration for the work of Dante, Petrarch, Ariosto, Tasso and others.
Although her identity remains unknown, Laura was the name given by Petrarch to the young woman who inspired his love poems. He first saw her in the church of St Clare, Avignon, on 6 April 1327. Laura seems to have been the preferred subject of Varni also and he returned to the subject in 1858 with the present work, Laura al bagno, quite possibly exhibited at the Promotrice di Belle Arti di Torino the following year. Inspiration for the work came from Petrarch's famous lines: "Chiare, fresche, dolci acque - dove le belle membra - pose colei che sola a me par donna". However, Varni depicts Laura once she has emerged from the crystal clear waters envisaged by the poet, and shows her with wistful expression relaxing naked by the side of the brook. Within the ample folds of her drapery she clutches what should be a songbook, but which here, in recognition of his source, Varni has simply carved with the title Petrarque. Had he not been distracted by so many public and private commissions, Laura is undoubtedly a subject to which Varni would have returned on further occasions.
A lover of poetry, Varni on several occasions paid hommage in his work to those poets whose verses aroused the greatest emotions within him. So it was that in his series of busts of Beatrice, Laura, Ginevra and Eleonora, executed in 1857, and later in a whole group of other works idealizing the female form, Varni publicised his admiration for the work of Dante, Petrarch, Ariosto, Tasso and others.
Although her identity remains unknown, Laura was the name given by Petrarch to the young woman who inspired his love poems. He first saw her in the church of St Clare, Avignon, on 6 April 1327. Laura seems to have been the preferred subject of Varni also and he returned to the subject in 1858 with the present work, Laura al bagno, quite possibly exhibited at the Promotrice di Belle Arti di Torino the following year. Inspiration for the work came from Petrarch's famous lines: "Chiare, fresche, dolci acque - dove le belle membra - pose colei che sola a me par donna". However, Varni depicts Laura once she has emerged from the crystal clear waters envisaged by the poet, and shows her with wistful expression relaxing naked by the side of the brook. Within the ample folds of her drapery she clutches what should be a songbook, but which here, in recognition of his source, Varni has simply carved with the title Petrarque. Had he not been distracted by so many public and private commissions, Laura is undoubtedly a subject to which Varni would have returned on further occasions.