Lot 431: AFTER ALESSANDRO ALGARDI

SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST

height 16 1/2 in.; 41.9 cm.

terracotta

probably 17th century

Washington, New York, Cambridge 1979-1982, no. 18 (illus.); Chicago 1987-1988, no. 6

Montagu, 1985, p. 314 no. 8.D.2

Cyril Humphris, London

Montagu records twenty-five versions by or after Alessandro Algardi and his workshop of the group of the Baptism of Christ, with the prime model being the silver one formerly in the Doria Pamphilj collection in Rome; two terracottas, one formerly in the Segni Collection in Bologna and another in the Vatican preceded the silver model. The present figure of Saint John, although skillfully modeled, does not seem to be by Algardi himself but rather is derived from one of the many bronze casts made after the Doria Pamphilj model.