Lot 80: PIETRO GUARNERIO

LA VANITA (VANITY)
signed: P. GUARNERIO MILANO 1879

167cm., 65¾in.

white marble

Pietro Guarnerio studied at the Brera Academy in Milan under Pietro Magni, before embarking on a successful international career. An earlier version of his Vanità was exhibited at the Centennial International Exhibition in Philadelphia in 1876. It caught the attention of Edward Strachan, the author of a catalogue of the exhibition, in its attempt to 'dazzle him by reckless difficulties of manipulation and by the conquered suavity of kneaded marble.' He went on to describe the subject: 'A ball-room belle, whose flesh seems made of swansdown rather than stone, is winding a necklace around her breast, and admiring the jewels in a mirror which a little girl holds admiringly before her... Every touch in the "Vanity" is softened in consonance with the boudoir subject, and the group is rococo ? luscious, over-tender and enervated.' Vicario cites a version in the collection of the Koenigsberg Museum in modern day Kaliningrad, which may be indentifiable with the version exhibited in Philadelphia.

The present marble has some minor variations from the Philadelphia version, for example the child here is clothed and there is no cushion at her feet. However, this marble displays all Guarnerio's consummate mastery over his material, as Strachan described it. Glistening beads are threaded through the girls ruffled curls, and the girl's delicate gestures and smooth skin are set against heavy textured draperies which fall to the ground, tumbling over the edges of the base. There is also a particular sweetness in the expression of both figures, heightened in comparison to the Philadelphia version. This appealing life-size marble is an extremely rare appearance of Guarnerio's work at auction.

RELATED LITERATURE
E. Strachan, The Masterpieces of the Centennial International Exhibition, vol. I. Fine Art, Philadlephia, 1876, p.146, illustration p. 136; Vicario, V. Gli Scultori Italiani dal Neoclassicismo al Liberty, vol. 1, Lodi, 1994, pp. 568-9; A. Panzetta, Nuovo Dizionario degli scultori italiana dell'ottocento e del primo novecento, vol. I, Turin, 2003, p. 446