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Lot Essay
Artistic depictions of negros in antiquity were common, and the renaissance saw a revival of interest in the subject. Nicolas Cordier (1567-1612) was among the first to sculpt a black man; his full length figure of a Moor was one of the jewels of the Borghese collection but was later sold to Napoleon and is today in the château de Versailles (Pressouyre, loc. cit.). In Rome, the little-known sculptor Francesco Caporale was commissioned to carve a portrait of the ambassador from the Congo, Antonio Il Negrita, in 1608.
The sitter of the present bust shares with the Caporale bust a certain air of nobility, but is otherwise quite different in its treatment. Similarly, the Cordier Moor is far more stylised than the bust being offered here. In its combination of individuality - one senses that this bust may represent an actual portrait of a historical figure - and idealism, it most closely resembles a bust by Melchior Barthel in the St. Louis Art Museum (illustrated in Bacchi, La Scultura a Venezia, loc. cit.). Although less heroic than the present bust, the sensitively carved features and the restrained white marble of the shoulders of the St. Louis bust are directly comparable.
Melchior Barthel (1625-1672) was born in Dresden, but is known to have made journeys to southern Germany and Italy, including a visit to Rome and a period of 17 years when he lived in Venice. While in the latter city, he executed a number of important commissions including the Tomb of Doge Giovanni Pesaro in the Frari. Part of that tomb includes negro caryatid figures executed in black and white marble, the drapery of which shows certain similarities to the irrational folds on the shoulders of the present bust. Barthel later returned to Dresden to become court sculptor, but is not known to have completed any large scale marbles during his time there.
The sitter of the present bust shares with the Caporale bust a certain air of nobility, but is otherwise quite different in its treatment. Similarly, the Cordier Moor is far more stylised than the bust being offered here. In its combination of individuality - one senses that this bust may represent an actual portrait of a historical figure - and idealism, it most closely resembles a bust by Melchior Barthel in the St. Louis Art Museum (illustrated in Bacchi, La Scultura a Venezia, loc. cit.). Although less heroic than the present bust, the sensitively carved features and the restrained white marble of the shoulders of the St. Louis bust are directly comparable.
Melchior Barthel (1625-1672) was born in Dresden, but is known to have made journeys to southern Germany and Italy, including a visit to Rome and a period of 17 years when he lived in Venice. While in the latter city, he executed a number of important commissions including the Tomb of Doge Giovanni Pesaro in the Frari. Part of that tomb includes negro caryatid figures executed in black and white marble, the drapery of which shows certain similarities to the irrational folds on the shoulders of the present bust. Barthel later returned to Dresden to become court sculptor, but is not known to have completed any large scale marbles during his time there.