AFTER GIANLORENZO BERNINI, BY FRANCESCO RIGHETTI (1749-1819), 1791

Details

A BRONZE GROUP OF APOLLO AND DAPHNE
AFTER GIANLORENZO BERNINI, BY FRANCESCO RIGHETTI (1749-1819), 1791
Depicting Apollo chasing Daphne who transforms into a laurel tree; on an integrally cast base signed and dated to the side 'RIGHETT. F. ROMAE. 1791'; medium brown patina with lighter high points
16 1/8 in. (41 cm.) high

Provenance

Purchased by the owner Christie's, London, 8th December 1987, lot 107.

Literature

F. Russell ed., The Loyd Collection of Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture, revised edition 1991, p. 56, no. 160.
COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:
R. Wittkower, Gian Lorenzo Bernini - The Sculptor of the Roman Baroque, London, 1955, pp. 183-184, no. 18, fig. 14.
F. Haskell and N. Penny, Taste and the Antique - The Lure of Classical Sculpture 1500-1900, New Haven and London, 1981, pp. 205-208, no. 34, fig. 106.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

The unveiling of the marble group of Apollo and Daphne in 1625 caused a sensation, and created a European celebrity of its creator, Gianlorenzo Bernini. The scene is derived from Ovid's Metamorphosis which describes how Apollo, struck by one of Cupid's arrows, pursues Daphne, the daughter of a river god. Fleeing from the young god, she tires and prays to her father to save her. Bernini chose the most dramatic moment, when Daphne is transformed by her father into a laurel tree, the bark snaking up to encase her legs and the leaves sprouting from her hair and fingertips.

In 1794 Francesco Righetti published a price list for works available for purchase from his workshop (Haskell and Penny, op. cit, p. 343) and the group of Apollo and Daphne featured not only at the top of the list with a hefty price of 60 sequins, but also as one of the very few non-antique works to be admired enough to be reproduced. For a more general note on Francesco Righetti see the introduction preceding lot 46.

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