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Lot Essay
As was noted when this sculpture was sold as part of the celebrated collections of Renaissance terracottas in the Sackler collection, this elegant high relief of Saint Catherine is among a group of terracottas which have been the subject of decades of serious scholarly dialogue regarding the complex field of Paduan terracotta sculpture and, in recent years, the traditional attribution of this figure of Saint Catherine to Giovanni Minelli was discarded and the authorship of the important Paduan contemporary of Minelli, Giovanni de Fondulis, or Giovanni di Fondulino Fonduli da Crema, was corroborated.
Scholars have recently reconstructed the oeuvre of this innovative sculptor, who worked with other major artists of the Italian Renaissance including Andrea Riccio, and now attribute the majority of sculptures once given Minelli to him, as was also noted in the Sackler sale catalogue. Fondulis is praised for his hyper-realistic reinterpretation of the naturalism pioneered in the work of Donatello and Andrea Mantegna in Padua a generation before and he has gained a reputation of one of the most pivotal artists of the late 15th century Veneto.
Scholars have recently reconstructed the oeuvre of this innovative sculptor, who worked with other major artists of the Italian Renaissance including Andrea Riccio, and now attribute the majority of sculptures once given Minelli to him, as was also noted in the Sackler sale catalogue. Fondulis is praised for his hyper-realistic reinterpretation of the naturalism pioneered in the work of Donatello and Andrea Mantegna in Padua a generation before and he has gained a reputation of one of the most pivotal artists of the late 15th century Veneto.