Lot Essay
This marble is characteristic of the type of decorative sculpture produced in Italy during the second half of the 19th century. Like many of his contemporaries, such as Pietro Barzanti and Cesare Lapini, the sculptor Pasquale Romanelli (d. 1887) set up his own gallery to retail contemporary subjects and high quality copies of Antique sculpture to satisfy the demands of a healthy export market, particularly to England and America. Here the subject is inspired by the sea myths and legends of Greek and Roman mythology such as the 'The Triumph of Neptune'.