Shooting Stars

Born in 1861, Vittorio Caradossi studied under Augusto Rivalta (d. 1925) at the Accademia di Belle Arti and was later commissioned to execute a number of public monuments. Though he is most remembered for his celebrated statue of the Renaissance artist Desiderio da Settignano, the model for which was exhibited at the 1900 Paris Exposition universelle, the artist specialized in depictions of celestial and ethereal nudes, such as the present group of intertwined nymphs. A virtuoso marble-carver, Carasoddi effortlessly achieved uninhibited movement in his exceptionally balanced works, all of which were hewn from a single block of Carrara marble. Another example of this scale, considered the artist's most popular work, sold at Sotheby's, New York, 8 November 2013, lot 114.