Lot 38: GIOVANNI BATTISTA FOGGINI

DESIGN FOR THE RELIQUARY OF S. SIGISMONDO

18 3/4 by 12 in; 479 by 302 mm

A design for the reliquary of S. Sigismondo which Foggini executed for the Medici Chapel in the church of S. Lorenzo, Florence. The reliquary, which was registered on the 24 September 1719, is made of ebony, silver, bronze gilt and pietra dura and is still in the Treasury of the church today. The present drawing must be an early design for the project, as the Louvre has a more elaborate design which is closer to the finished object: with two figures and a central cartouche added above the upper arch. (1)

We are most grateful to Dr Jennifer Montagu for her help in the cataloguing of this drawing.

1. See Gli Ultimi Medici: Il tardo barocco a Firenze, 1670-1743, exhib. cat., Detroit and Florence 1974, pp. 354-5, cat. no. 198a