Lot 458: MELCHIORRE CAFÀ

SAINT ROSE OF LIMA

height 5 1/8 in., width 10 7/8 in., depth 4 3/4 in.; 13 cm, 27.5 cm, 12 cm

silver and gilt bronze

third quarter 17th century

Heim Summer 1976, no. 29

Boucher 2001, pp. 212-213, no. 52, (illus.); Sciberras 2006, p. 90, fig. 129; p. 262

Heim Gallery, London

Perhaps Melchiorre Cafà's most famous work is his monumental marble Saint Rose of Lima, which was displayed in the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome in 1668 before being sent to Lima, Peru. A terracotta modello for the marble is now in the Museo Nazionale del Palazzo di Venezia in Rome, and the present bronze is one of four known casts of this variant model. With its finely finished surface and silvered flesh, it was clearly made as a luxurious object for a wealthy patron. The probable date of this work, in the second half of the 1660s, coincides with the beatification and canonization of the subject, who was the first Saint of the new world and would become the Patron Saint of South America.