Lot 123: w - AUGUSTO PASSAGLIA, ITALIAN, 1838-1918, MASANIELLO

signed: A Passaglia and inscribed Pta. Fratelli Lapini. FIRENZE, white marble

h.63.5cm.

Tomaso Aniello (1620-1647) was a young Neapolitan fisherman who was chosen by Giulio Genoino to lead a revolt against Spanish rule. He briefly became Captain-General of the city before he was arrested and murdered. Masaniello was a popular folk hero during the events leading up to Italian unification in 1861 and this partly explains the success of Passaglia's model. Alexandre Dumas wrote a novel about Masaniello, who is also the hero of Daniel François Esprit Auber's La Muette de Portici (1828).