Lot 30: GIOVANNI MARIA BENZONI

LA RICONOSCENZA
signed G.M. BENZONI F.A.1852 ROMA to the back.

height 30 1/4 in. 82 cm

white carrara marble

Alfonso Panzetta, Nuovo Dizionario degli scultori Italiani dell'ottocento e del primo novecento, G. Canale & C. spa, Borgaro, 2003, fig. 186., p. 145

The present work, La Riconoscenza, was exhibited, together with its pendant group Innocenza difesa dalla fedelta (see the following lot in this sale) at the Crystal Palace Great Exhibition of 1851.

Benzoni studied under Giuseppe Fabri before entering the Accademia di San Luca in Rome in 1828. Equally renowned for his religious work and classical subjects, he executed funerary monuments, architectural sculptures, and portrait busts.

Benzoni was a truly international artist who received commissions from aristocratic families all over the world, from St. Petersburg to Brazil. He carried these out from his studio in Rome. His sculpture was well-known in England after he showed work at the Great Exhibition of 1851, and, as a result, he received many English commissions. He also exhibited at the International Exhibition in Antwerp in 1861 as a representative of the Vatican.