Lot 453: ITALY, ROME, LATE 17TH/EARLY 18TH CENTURY

CROSS
the corpus after a model by Ercole Ferrata (1610 - 1686), some mounts later and associated
letters on gilt bronze cartouche on base: SIC NOS DILEXIT

height of corpus 18 3/8 in.; 46.5 cm ; height overall 62 1/16 in.; 157.7 cm

silver-mounted, gilt bronze, and gilt copper ebonized wood

Heim Summer 1973, no. 36

Strozzi Collection, Florence (according to a label on back of base); Heim Gallery, London

RELATED LITERATURE

Wittkower 1997, p. 274-276

This opulent composition is typical of Late Baroque devotional metalwork produced in Rome by the artists of the papal court. The corpus is derived from the popular Cristo Vivo modeled by Ercole Ferrata under the supervision of Gianlorenzo Bernini (for a discussion of the problems in authorship of the design of the corpus, and the influence of Algardi, see Wittkower op. cit.).