18th Large Sculptural Group "the Rape Of The Sabine Women" Veined Alabaster Inghirami Volterra

"The Rape of the Sabine Women", veined alabaster, large sculptural group with classical subject, Volterra manufactory, 18th century.

The Rape of the Sabine Women is a sculptural group by Giambologna, part of the grand-ducal furnishings of the Loggia dei Lanzi in the Piazza della Signoria in Florence. The group is 4.10 meters high (the dimensions of the sculptures increased considerably after Michelangelo sculpted David) and represents a young man lifting a young girl above his head, while an old man is trapped between the legs and the despair of the young man; it is for this reason that the statue is also known as "The Three Ages of Man".

The sculpture, both for the classical subject and for the type of material in which it was made, takes us back to the Volterra area, where the Inghirami workshop was active between 1791 and 1799. The Tuscan city of Volterra, cradle of Etruscan civilization, has always been considered an illustrious point of reference for the extraction and processing of alabaster: a changeable, delicate, brilliant and elegant material. Recognized as the most precious in Europe, it is present in the area in the form of open-air quarries or tunnels and dates back to a period between 26 and 7 million years ago. Each quarry generates a type of alabaster that differs in appearance and consistency depending on the chemical composition of the soil: therefore, the varieties less rich in inclusions are white and transparent, while inclusions of clay and metal oxides produce alabasters that tend to be gray. with veins. On the contrary, the amber, yellow and reddish colours are due to metal oxides and hydroxides, mainly iron.

A very similar example to ours appears in the Catalogue of Italian Cultural Heritage, exhibited at the Museum of the Villa Medici in Poggio a Caiano. The sheet notes that another identical group is preserved at the Pitti Palace.

Measurements

H 64 cm
L max 27 cm
P max 22 cm
Base 22.5 x 18.5 cm

Antiquaires professionnels et experts agrées du 1997, sur Proantic du 2014.
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