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Lot Essay
Agostino Cornacchini was born in Pescia but moved to Florence in 1697 where he entered the workshop of Giovanni Battista Foggini. He received a number of significant commissions while there, but moved to Rome where, in 1712, he entered the household of one of the most important art patrons of his day, Cardinal Carlo Agostino Fabbroni. Cornacchini was at the height of his career when he executed the large marble equestrian group of Charlemagne, which was carved in 1720-1725 to stand in the narthex of St. Peter's Basilica. He continued working in Rome until at least 1754, when he is documented as having executed a marble figure of St. Ursula for the top of the colonnade outside St. Peter's.
Although Cornacchini is today remembered for his monumental works, we know from extant records that he also worked on a more domestic scale. The present figure of Minerva, which may once have formed part of a group of statues of the Judgement of Paris, shows numerous similarities to documented works. Among these, his marble figure of Prudence in St John Lateran displays a very similar rounded face and wide-set almond-shaped eyes with heavy upper lids. The figure of Hope, in Monte di Pietà, exhibits a very similar contrapposto and voluminous drapery with its emphasis on numerous shallow folds falling in zig-zag patterns (for illustrations of each figure see Pratesi, op. cit., II, figs, 111 and 112).
The attribution to Cornacchini is based on more than stylistic grounds alone, because it is known from letters written to Lord Hope by his uncle that the family had contracted Cornacchini to execute marbles which were to be shipped back to Scotland. Despite the fact that there seems to have been a certain amount of acrimony over the final price to be paid for this first group of figures, it is quite likely that among the 'three boxes' of marbles which Lord Hope sent home (referred to in a letter to his uncle, the Marquess of Annandale, 3 September 1726) was the present figure of Minerva.
Although Cornacchini is today remembered for his monumental works, we know from extant records that he also worked on a more domestic scale. The present figure of Minerva, which may once have formed part of a group of statues of the Judgement of Paris, shows numerous similarities to documented works. Among these, his marble figure of Prudence in St John Lateran displays a very similar rounded face and wide-set almond-shaped eyes with heavy upper lids. The figure of Hope, in Monte di Pietà, exhibits a very similar contrapposto and voluminous drapery with its emphasis on numerous shallow folds falling in zig-zag patterns (for illustrations of each figure see Pratesi, op. cit., II, figs, 111 and 112).
The attribution to Cornacchini is based on more than stylistic grounds alone, because it is known from letters written to Lord Hope by his uncle that the family had contracted Cornacchini to execute marbles which were to be shipped back to Scotland. Despite the fact that there seems to have been a certain amount of acrimony over the final price to be paid for this first group of figures, it is quite likely that among the 'three boxes' of marbles which Lord Hope sent home (referred to in a letter to his uncle, the Marquess of Annandale, 3 September 1726) was the present figure of Minerva.