Lot 444: GIUSEPPE MARIA MAZZA 1653 - 1741

DAVID TRIUMPHANT OVER GOLIATH

height 18 3/4 in.; 47.6 cm

terracotta

<P>late 17th/ early 18th century</P>

Washington, New York, and Cambridge 1979-1982, no. 39, (illus.); New York, 1981, no. 27, (illus. on cover); Chicago 1987-1988, no. 14, (illus.)

Riccòmini 1970, p. 9; Riccòmini 1972 p. 98, no. 110, ill.; Detroit 1974, p. 48

Heim Gallery, London

In this impressive group, the figure of an adolescent David rises above the rumpled body of the defeated Goliath, hoisting the severed head in a display of triumph. David's diminuitive features, strong brow, and high forehead are the work of a young Giuseppe Maria Mazza, and are comparable with Mazza's figures now in the Museo Davia Begellini in Bologna (Riccòmini 1972 op. cit., p. 367, no. 275). The ingenious composition solves the spatial problem of depicting a fallen giant beneath a triumphant youth, with the body of Goliath serving as a pedestal for David's assured contrapposto, and dramatically contrasts the scale of the two heads. Mazza's design seems to have inspired Foggini in his well-known group of the same subject now in the Cleveland Museum (Detroit op. cit. no. 11).