Lot 54: Circle of Francesco Laurana (circa 1420-before 1502) Italian, Naples, late 15th century , A marble bust of a man

truncated beneath the shoulders, mildly weathered

measurements note 46.5cm., 18¼in.

The present portrait bust is similar to several busts by or generally associated with Laurana, including the portraits of Alfonso I, King of Naples (Detroit Institute of Art) and Ferrante I, King of Naples (Louvre, Paris). The Louvre bust was formerly attributed to Domenico Gagini and is now thought to be by the hand of Pietro da Milano (see: Burger, pp. 108-9, fig. 35)

It has been suggested that the sitter is Jean de Matharon, lord of Salignac and Peynier (d. 1495), of whom a contemporary bronze medal exists in the Musée Granet, Aix. The medal shows him wearing the cross of Lorraine, a reference to his allegiance to the Duke of Lorraine. The medal has been associated by Friedlander with Francesco Laurana and by Forrer with Niccolo Spinelli.

The earliest record of Francesco Laurana is in 1453 while working on the triumphal arch of the Castelnuovo in Naples. In 1461 he moved to France where he worked for René of Anjou until 1466, producing several signed and dated medals. He spent approximately five years in Sicily from 1467 and modelled two marbles during this period, both dated 1471. He returned to Naples in the early 1470s and resided in France from 1477-83, where he is known to have worked in both Avignon and Marseilles. There is no record of his activity between 1483 and 1498, although he mave have returned to southern Italy. He died in France before March 1502.

RELATED LITERATURE
F. Burger, Francesco Laurana (Strassburg, 1907); J. Pope-Hennessy, Italian Renaissance Sculpture (London 1958); Le Roi Rene en son Temps 1382-1481, exh. cat. Musée Granet, Aix-en-Provenance, 11 April-30 September 1981, p. 63, A127; B. Patera, Francesco Laurana in Sicilia (Palermo, 1992); H.-W. Kruft, Francesco Laurana, ein Bildhauer der Frührenaissance (Munich, 1995) p. 45