Lot 358: An Italian Terracotta Relief of Perseus and Andromeda, by Giovanni Battista Foggini (1652-1725), Circa 1700

modeled in both low and high relief, incised at the center with 42 / S (?), the back with faint text in ink, within giltwood frame.

measurements note height 10 3/4 in., width 15 1/8 in.; 23.7 by 38.2 cm.

RELATED LITERATURE S. F. Rossen (ed.), The Twilight of the Medici: Late Baroque Art in Florence, 1670-1743 (exh. cat.), Detroit, MI, Inst. A., Florence, Pitti, 1974 K Lankheit, Die Modellsammlung der Porzellanmanufaktur Doccia, Munich, 1982, p.141, 42:131, pl. 70 The wax relief of the same subject and size by Foggini is preserved in the Doccia Museum at Sesto Fiorentino (D. 1191). It is described in the inventory of the factory's models: un piccolo bassorilievo rappresentante Perso che libera Andromeda dal Mostro Marina, di cera. Del Foggini, con forme (Lankheit, op.cit., p.141). This relief appears to have been paired with another depicting Cephalus and Procris, of which a wax copy is also preserved at Doccia (Lankheit, op.cit., pl.71). No Doccia porcelain relief of either subject are known. Giovanni Battista Foggini was the principal Florentine sculptor of the late Baroque period. In 1673 he was sent by the young Grand Duke of Tuscany, Cosimo III de' Medici, to study at the Accademia Fiorentina in Rome. He remained there for three years, studying under Ercole Ferrata, a sculptor of the second Baroque generation, and Ciro Ferri, a painter who was a close follower of Pietro da Cortona. Upon his return from Rome, Foggini immediately recieved commissions from the Medici court and a decade later he was appointed grand ducal sculptor, after the death of Ferdinando Tacca. For the rest of his life, he was primarily employed on commissions for the Medici, with Massimiliano Soldani as his only rival. Foggini supervised the Grand Ducal studio and foundry in Borgo Pinti, which was the center for official bronze commissions, as well as the Galleria dei Lavori (now the Museo dell'Opificio delle Pietre Dure).