Lot 136: Pietro Tenerani

Pietro Tenerani
Italian, 1789-1869
an amorino with a hare
signed: P. TENERANI
white marble, on a veined grey marble column with revolving top (wings detachable) (6)
figure: 93 cm., 36 5/8 in.
column:104 cm., 41 in.
Tenerani, together with his close friend Lorenzo Bartolini, are considered as two of the major proponents of the Tuscan neo-classical school of sculpture. He was born in Torano, Carrara and studied there in the studio of his uncle, the sculptor Pietro Marchetti. In 1813 he won a scholarship to Rome, where he completed his studies at the Accademia di San Luca and frequented the workshop of Canova. In 1817 he entered Thorwaldsen's studio, becoming the head of the atelier in his masters absence. Thereafter his fame quickly spread as he was made a professor of the Accademia di San Luca (1825), its president in 1856 and in 1860 a general director of the Vatican Museums. His most famous works include Psyche with Pandora's box, Venus and Cupid, Psyche Abandoned and a tomb for Pius VIII in St. Peter's, Rome. Gradually his style turned away from its neo-classical roots and explored the possibilities of genre groups, as in the present work. The delicately chiselled working of the hair and face is evident, and it originally formed a pendant to another amorino in the guise of a fisherman attending his net (see lot 153, Christie's, 19 October 1991)
Related literature: Panzetta, p.265