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Lot Essay
Steeped in the legacy of early 19th century Neoclassic statuary and the persistence of Canova’s ‘beautiful hand’ over Italian statuary of the period, this important version of the Psyche Abandoned, perhaps the most famous composition by Pietro Tenerani, marks the virtuoso Carrarese sculptor’s meteoric rise to fame among a host of international patrons. Furthermore, it was his delicate and quiet treatment of the source material – a dejected, quiet and pensive Psyche – which solidified his place as a skillful and adept custodian of the marble medium, conveying a silent tenderness and powerful sensitivity in the honing of the figure and delicate fall of the drapery.
Tenerani’s first marble version of the Psyche (Galleria d’Arte Moderna di Palazzo Pitti, Florence) dated to 1816-1819, followed the original plaster in Carrara, and subsequently cast in Rome (Museo di Roma). Tenerani had begun to carve the block before receiving an official commission, but the work was purchased even before its completion by an agent of the Marquise Carlotta de’ Medici. Medici, who had sought an ancient work, ultimately chose Tenerani’s modern rendition of Cupid and Psyche from Apuleius' Metamorphoses, written in the 2nd century A.D. A second version was executed for Prince Clemens von Metternich (1819), a fact which was published by Giordani in 1826 in Vieusseux’s “Antologia”. A republished and definitive version of the same text by 1848 placed the Labouchère version third in the chronology of commissions. By 1874, two other versions were believed to have been commissioned, including one for Agostino Bertin de Veaux and Lord Thorvendson.
The present version, with the significant dating to 1845, was illustrated by Stefano Grandesso in his seminal 1997 article on the relationship between the artist and Pietro Giordani. Grandesso’s subsequent confirmation that the present version of Psyche is one and the same with the version exhibited in 1846 at the Royal Academy in London is crucial to linking this important figure to Sir Henry Labouchère, first Baron Taunton (d. 1869) and son of Pierre César Labouchère (d. 1839), previously a patron of Bertel Thorvaldsen. The figure is first mentioned at the Stoke Park estate by Gustav Friedrich Waagen, who on a visit in the summer of 1850 observed a number of sculptures “yet placed in their destined positions,” further confirmation that the Psyche had only been in England for a few years. More importantly, the Tenerani was shown alongside a work by his contemporary, Rudolph Schadow (d. 1822), which by all intents and purposes, is assumed to be his iconic Girl Tying her Sandal – an equally pensive and demure composition which served as a perfect pendant.
A stronger link to Stoke Park is further explored in great detail and nuance by Andrea Bacchi, who points to an 1880 monograph devoted to Tenerani, in which Antonio Raggi wrote:
Ne fece una replica per il Principe [Metternich] e dopo questa, altre per illustri personaggi […] Incontentabile com’era il Tenerani fin da quei tempi, corresse una replica di questa Psiche, la quale nel 1829 fece pel generale Agostino Bertin de Veaux francese, e allungando il peplo che toccava appena il ginocchio sinistro e lasciava tutta nuda la gamba, lo portò fino al mezzo di questa. Così in tutte le successive riproduzioni, il che parmi dia maggiore nobiltà e decenza alla innocente ed ingenua giovanetta […] onde nella quarta replica in marmo ne modificò eziandio la testa che riuscì di estrema bellezza.
According to Raggi, all the copies after the first two had a longer peplum covering the left leg. This subtle, though crucial placement of the drapery unlocks further insight to the provenance, as another Psyche abandoned sold at Sotheby’s, London, 11 December 2019, lot 12 is modeled with the peplum placed upon the upper left knee.
Christie's would like to thank Stefani Grandesso and Andrea Bacchi for their generous contributions to scholarship for this lot.
Tenerani’s first marble version of the Psyche (Galleria d’Arte Moderna di Palazzo Pitti, Florence) dated to 1816-1819, followed the original plaster in Carrara, and subsequently cast in Rome (Museo di Roma). Tenerani had begun to carve the block before receiving an official commission, but the work was purchased even before its completion by an agent of the Marquise Carlotta de’ Medici. Medici, who had sought an ancient work, ultimately chose Tenerani’s modern rendition of Cupid and Psyche from Apuleius' Metamorphoses, written in the 2nd century A.D. A second version was executed for Prince Clemens von Metternich (1819), a fact which was published by Giordani in 1826 in Vieusseux’s “Antologia”. A republished and definitive version of the same text by 1848 placed the Labouchère version third in the chronology of commissions. By 1874, two other versions were believed to have been commissioned, including one for Agostino Bertin de Veaux and Lord Thorvendson.
The present version, with the significant dating to 1845, was illustrated by Stefano Grandesso in his seminal 1997 article on the relationship between the artist and Pietro Giordani. Grandesso’s subsequent confirmation that the present version of Psyche is one and the same with the version exhibited in 1846 at the Royal Academy in London is crucial to linking this important figure to Sir Henry Labouchère, first Baron Taunton (d. 1869) and son of Pierre César Labouchère (d. 1839), previously a patron of Bertel Thorvaldsen. The figure is first mentioned at the Stoke Park estate by Gustav Friedrich Waagen, who on a visit in the summer of 1850 observed a number of sculptures “yet placed in their destined positions,” further confirmation that the Psyche had only been in England for a few years. More importantly, the Tenerani was shown alongside a work by his contemporary, Rudolph Schadow (d. 1822), which by all intents and purposes, is assumed to be his iconic Girl Tying her Sandal – an equally pensive and demure composition which served as a perfect pendant.
A stronger link to Stoke Park is further explored in great detail and nuance by Andrea Bacchi, who points to an 1880 monograph devoted to Tenerani, in which Antonio Raggi wrote:
Ne fece una replica per il Principe [Metternich] e dopo questa, altre per illustri personaggi […] Incontentabile com’era il Tenerani fin da quei tempi, corresse una replica di questa Psiche, la quale nel 1829 fece pel generale Agostino Bertin de Veaux francese, e allungando il peplo che toccava appena il ginocchio sinistro e lasciava tutta nuda la gamba, lo portò fino al mezzo di questa. Così in tutte le successive riproduzioni, il che parmi dia maggiore nobiltà e decenza alla innocente ed ingenua giovanetta […] onde nella quarta replica in marmo ne modificò eziandio la testa che riuscì di estrema bellezza.
According to Raggi, all the copies after the first two had a longer peplum covering the left leg. This subtle, though crucial placement of the drapery unlocks further insight to the provenance, as another Psyche abandoned sold at Sotheby’s, London, 11 December 2019, lot 12 is modeled with the peplum placed upon the upper left knee.
Christie's would like to thank Stefani Grandesso and Andrea Bacchi for their generous contributions to scholarship for this lot.