Lot 84: An Italian Silver and Gilt-Bronze Group of Raphael and Tobias, the model attributed to Lorenzo Vaccaro (1655-1706), circa 1700, Naples

upon painted and ebonized socle with gilt-bronze feet.

measurements note height 19 3/4 in.; 50.2 cm

The present beautifully worked and detailed sculpture is an example of the sculptural combination of silver, patinanted bronze, gilt bronze and wood that was particularly favored in Naples in the late 17υth and 18υth centuries. Prominent sculptors collaborated with silversmiths, providing models for them to cast and embellish. Lorenzo Vaccaro was a sculptor who was associated with the painter Francesco Solimena, providing terracotta figures for him to study as models for his pictures. In 1692 he was commissioned to make Four Continents for the Toledo Cathedral; he also designed a St. Michael and Lucifer in which he employed the same combination of materials as the present sculpture. This group was made by the Neapolitan goldsmith Gian Domenico Vinaccia for the Chapel of San Gennaro, Naples in 1691 (see Alvar Gonzalez-Palacios, Il tempio del gusto, Roma e il regno delle due Sicilie, Milan, 1989, vol. II, no.472). The facial types, general treatment of the drapery and the contorted pose of the main figure, leaning to the right with his weight on his left leg preparing to lance the devil, are similar to those seen in the present work. The sophisticated gilt bronze-mounted wood base with the present lot also adds to the dramatic effect. Two related silver sculptures were in the Sammlung J. Spengel, Munich-Warthof, sold at Helbing in 1911, nos. 270 and 271. Both have nearly identical bases to the present lot. No. 270 is extremely similar in composition, figure style, and includes the same figure of the child on the right as this Saint Michael, while no. 272 follows the design of the San Gennaro Saint Michael. See A. S. Ciechanowiecki, 'Sculpture in Naples' in The Golden Age of Naples, exh.cat. Detroit, 1981, p. 287 V. Rizzo, Lorenzo e Domenico Vaccaro, Naples, 2001