Bishop
SOUTHERN FRENCH OR NORTH ITALIAN
Second half XVIIth century
Bishop
Terra-cotta / H : 44 cm
Our terra-cotta is a « bozzetto » representing a bishop as indicated by his mitre and cope.
Unfortunately, as the hands are fragmented, we cannot identify the Saint represented more pricesely.
With its movement created by the theatrical gesture in this dynamic composition, its floating drapery and by its dramatic expressiveness, our model is typically baroque.
We notice similarities with a marble sculpture by Pierre Puget, executed for the church of Santa Maria Assunta in Carignano, in Genova, which represents the Bienheureux Alessandro Sauli, circa 1665.
You can also percieve this stylistic likeness in the terra-cotta rough sketches known for this marble sculpture, one can be found at Bode museum in Berlin (Germany), another one in Cleveland (inv. N°1964.36) and another one in Musé Granet, Aix-en-Provence (inv. N°860-1-4S)