Lot 114: DOMENICO PIERATTI (1600-1656) FLORENCE, MID 17TH CENTURY

DOMENICO PIERATTI (1600-1656) FLORENCE, MID 17TH CENTURY

A MARBLE FIGURE OF THE YOUTHFUL ST JOHN THE BAPTIST

DOMENICO PIERATTI (1600-1656)

measurements note
height: 71cm., 28in. width: 37cm., 14 1/2 in. depth: 39cm., 15 1/4 in

the seated Saint with his left leg crossed and resting on his right knee, his lamb standing beside a vine-covered wall looking upwards

PROVENANCE

Marquis Bargagli, Palazzo Bargagli, Florence;
Private Collection, London

LITERATURE

F.Bocchi & G.Cinelli, Le bellezze della città di Firenze, Florence, 1677, p.281;
A.E.Brinkmann, Barocksculptur, Berlin, 1917, p.282, fig.283
C.Pizzorusso, A Boboli e Altrove. Sculture e Scultori Fiorentini del Seicento, Florence, 1989, pp.94-95
G.Pratesi, Repertorio della Scultura Fiorentina del Seicento e Settecento, Turin, 1993, fig.462

NOTE

Domenico Pieratti was one of the major sculptors of the Florentine Baroque movement. Active in the generation after Giambologna, his most important works are large carved marble and stone allegorical figures, predominantly for the Boboli Gardens, and religious figures for numerous churches in Florence. He also worked for the Barberini in Rome, where he died.

First recorded by F. Bocchi and G. Cinelli in the 1677 publication Le belleze della città di Firenze, this very fine seated figure of the youthful St John the Baptist is a rare small scale carving. It was published by Brinkmann in 1917, who attributed the piece to Domenico's slightly older brother Giovanni Battista Pieratti. Brinkmann praised its 'gewisse lyrische Stimmung'. More recently, however, both Professor Claudio Pizzorusso and Giovanni Pratesi have given the St John the Baptist to Domenico, whose technical skill is generally considered to have been more accomplished than his brother's. The pose of the seated saint is imbued with great energy in the twisting torso, lowered right shoulder and crossed legs, yet retains a grace and beauty in the delicately positioned hands and sensitive handling of the combination of drapery, ivy-clad rocky seat and attendant lamb, which suggests Domenico's greater sophistication.

Domenico Pieratti's style is characterised by a synthesis of two major influences: Antique sculpture and Michelangelo. Both these sources can be clearly appreciated in this St. John. Pizzorusso has noted the affinities of the cross legged pose with the Antique figure of the Seated Nymph, also known as the Venere spinaria in the Uffizi and has additionally observed the influence of the famous Ludovisi Mars in the carefully rendered muscular, youthful torso of the Baptist. However, the overall dynamism of the composition is strongly reminiscent of Michelangelo's Ignudi from the Sistine Ceiling. Comparisons can also be made with other works by Domenico, notably the caryatid angels on the Acquasantiera in San Gaetano, Florence which have a closely analogous treatment of the hair and the Gladiator in the Villa Medicea, which date to the 1640s.

Pizzorusso concludes his assessment of the present St John the Baptist commenting that whilst this figure shows affinities in its compositional tension with many figures by Giambologna, it goes beyond the usual derivations of works by either modern masters or antiquity made by less inventive sculptors. As with Pieratti's amazing standing St John the Evangelist in San Marco, who casually leans against the side of his niche as he writes his gospel, this St John the Baptist has all the originality and idiosyncrasy of the Florentine Baroque.