Flore Farnese Naples, 19th Century Bronze With Dark Brown Patina And Silver Highlights

FLORA FARNESE Naples, 19th century Bronze with dark brown patina and silver highlights Dimensions: total height: 54 cm Provenance: Sotheby's Paris sale, 10/18/2006, lot 46 Beautiful figure of Flora, in bronze with dark brown patina, enhanced with silver. The goddess's hair is tied in a bun, held in place by a headband. Flore is dressed in a long tunic falling in fine folds, tightened at the waist by a belt and fastened at the shoulders by a brooch. She holds a bouquet of flowers in her left hand, while with her right hand she elegantly lifts her tunic. The bronze rests on a rectangular base in yellow Siena marble. The eyes, belt and brooches are silver. This bronze represents Flora, the Roman goddess of flowers, gardens and spring, responsible for particularly watching over the flowering of fruit trees and cereals. It is a reduction made from the famous ancient marble found in the Baths of Caracalla in Rome, in 1540, and which immediately met with immense success among art lovers due to the imposing dimensions of the work. , the quality of the sculpture and above all the delicacy of the draping. Made during the 2nd century BC, this marble is the work of a Roman sculptor inspired by Greek statuary. At the end of the 16th century, Guglielmo della Porta gave it a wreath for repositioning in the Palazzo Farnese in Rome. This marble was then moved to Naples, around 1800, before Tagliolini (1745-1813) replaced the crown she held in her hand to return the original bouquet of flowers, as we can see on our bronze. This ancient marble is now preserved in the Archaeological Museum of Naples. The admiration aroused by ancient sculptures was continuous during the Renaissance, the Baroque age and Neo-classicism. But it was mainly in the 18th and 19th centuries that the fashion for reproductions of the most famous antique models developed, intended for a wealthy European clientele wishing to bring back a souvenir of the Grand Tour. Following the workshop of the Zoffoli brothers, in 18th century Rome, several Neapolitan workshops specialized during the 19th century in the edition of bronze reductions of antique statues, such as Michele Amodio, the Chiurazzi Foundry or the Sabatino workshop of Angelis & Fils. Copies with different patinas and various dimensions were offered. For this, they benefited from the proximity of the Archaeological Museum of Naples which houses the entire Farnese collection. A comparable bronze, but of smaller dimensions, went on sale at Koller in Zurich on March 30, 2023 (lot 1360), with an attribution to the workshop of the brothers Giacomo and Giovanni Zoffoli. In the example that we are presenting, particular care has been taken with the eyes, the belt and the brooches which have been silvered, making this figure of Flora Farnese a rare and precious example.