.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Giovanni Battista Barberini is believed to have been a pupil in the workshop of Ercole Ferrata, where he would have been introduced to the Baroque style of Allesandro Algardi. His first documented works as an independent master are at San Lorenzo, Laino, made between 1664 and 1667. Apart from a short period in Vienna, Barberini spent the majority of his career moving from city to city in northern Italy, where he carried out numerous ecclesiastical commissions.
Barberini is best known for the fine statues of eight Benefactors of the Albergo dei Poveri, Genoa, made in 1672. The modelling of those figures appears to be by the same hand responsible for the present busts, with the very strong and broadly drawn features, the theatrical gazes, the hollowed cheeks beneath high cheek bones, and the identical treatment of the drapery. The close comparison of the busts to these figures, such as those of Franco Borsotto and Ettore Venazza, suggests that they were made at a similar date, most likely after Barberini had finished the Genoese commission and moved to Bologna in 1673.
Barberini is best known for the fine statues of eight Benefactors of the Albergo dei Poveri, Genoa, made in 1672. The modelling of those figures appears to be by the same hand responsible for the present busts, with the very strong and broadly drawn features, the theatrical gazes, the hollowed cheeks beneath high cheek bones, and the identical treatment of the drapery. The close comparison of the busts to these figures, such as those of Franco Borsotto and Ettore Venazza, suggests that they were made at a similar date, most likely after Barberini had finished the Genoese commission and moved to Bologna in 1673.