BY FORTUNATO GALLI, LATE 19TH CENTURY

Widely known for his figure of Georges Bizet's Carmen, Professore Fortunato Galli (d. 1918) spent most of his working life in Florence, where much of his output was religious sculpture for many of the major Tuscan churches, including his principal work, the statue of Pope Gregory VII for the Duomo in Florence. His decorative, commercial works, retailed from Pietrò Barzanti's galleria, concentrated on subjects and themes of the day, such as Mignon, the heroine of Ambroise Thomas's 1866 opera. The present group depicting a youthful Michelangelo sculpting a grotesque mask was a subject popularized by a number of artists in the late 19th century, including Galli's contemporary, Emilio Zocchi (d. 1913).