ITALIAN OR FRENCH, SECOND HALF 17TH OR FIRST HALF 18TH CENTURY

The two bronze busts offered here have no attributes but, with their bare shoulders and beards, are probably meant to represent philosophers. The busts are known in at least one other example, a virtually identical pair in the Hermitage which is catalogued as 'French, 17th century'. The bare shoulders and short truncation are obviously indebted to antique sculpture, and it would seem that the author of the present busts had at least spent some time studying in Italy. With their characterful faces, they can be related to 17th century studies such as Bernini's Anima Damnata (illustrated in C. Avery, Bernini - Genius of the Baroque, London, 1997, fig. 71), although they also have parallels to later series of busts in the 18th century.