Lot 82: Attilio Fagioli , Italian 1877-1966 A head of Saint John the Baptist white marble

white marble

measurements note 37 by 64cm., 14½ by 25¼in.

Attilio Fagioli exhibited a bronze version of his head of St John the Baptist, which included an integrally cast salver, at the Esposizione Internationale della Società delle Belle Arti in Florence in 1913. It was awarded first prize. The location of the bronze is unknown, but the present marble can be clearly attributed to the sculptor from an existing contemporary photograph. The marble can be dated to the same period as the bronze.

Fagioli's sensitive re-working of this, one of the traditional themes of Western art, is essentially Symbolist in spirit. The story of the execution of St John the Baptist involves death and the femme fatale, both key themes in Symbolist art and the subject is seen in the oeuvres of many Symbolists such as Pierre Puvis de Chavannes and Gustave Moreau who returned to the subject many times. In replacing the salver of the bronze with a marble rock, Fagioli has fragmented the head from its narrative to focus on the pathos of death as a subject in itself.

We are grateful to Alfonso Panzetta for his assistance in the cataloguing of this lot.