Lot 70: Francesco Barzaghi Italian, 1839-1892 , A Young Girl Collecting Flowers white marble

signed: FRN. BARZAGHI Milano white marble

measurements note 45cm., 57in.

Francesco Barzaghi was a key sculptor in the Scapigliatura movement in Milan. He had a highly successful, albeit short, career as a sculptor of exhibition work, funerary memorials and monuments. Vicaro has observed that Barzaghi knew how to contemporize the style and the taste of his age with an intelligent and robust realism."

As a sculptor, Barzaghi was amongst the most accomplished craftsman of his generation in the art of modeling for stone. He was able to achieve exceptionally fine detail, while maintaining a vibrancy and vitality in his anatomy. He received praise for his sensual marbles of mythological woman, which included his Amore Acceca, Silvia che si Specchia, Psyche, La Vanerell, L'Innocennza and Dea dei Fiori. A. de Gubernatis wrote that Barzaghi's "spiego specialmente il suo valore nel ritrarre in marmo le grazie femminili."

RELATED LITERATURE
Panzetta pp.36-37; Vacario pp.88-97; Mazzanotte, vol.7, pp. 13-14; Carmel & Pirovano, p.21, no. 23; de Gubernatis, unpaginated