Lot 174: PIO FEDI

ITALIAN 1816-1892 PIA DE'TOLOMEI E NELLO DELLA PIETRA OR IL SOSPETTO (THE SUSPICION) signed: PIO FEDI STATUARIO DI FIRENZE SCOLPi 1862: and inscribed: RICORDITI DI ME, ChE SON LA PIA: DANTE. Purgatorio Canto V. verso 133. partially polychromed white marble 83cm., 32 5/8 in.

This refined group has an intricate, patterned surface, which recalls Pio Fedi's early training as a goldsmith and engraver. The subject is taken from a verse in Dante's Purgatorio, mourning the fate of 'La Pia'. In 19th century scholarship it was believed that 'La Pia' referred to a lady from the Sienese Tolomei family, who married Nello d'Ighiramo, only to be put to death by him at the Castello della Pietra in 1295, on suspicion of infidelity. In the 19th century version of the story, Pia was innocent and wrongly killed by confinement in an area where the air of the marshes was fatal. The contemporary commentator Theodosia Trollope, reviewing Fedi's version of the subject, wrote of the 'ill-fated lady' and interpreted the sculptor's depiction as the moment when the husband is about to leave Pia to her fate, ignoring 'her timid words of inquiry.' The first version of the model dates to 1846 and Fedi went on to produce a life-size version for Grand Duke Leopold II. It was one of his most popular models and he produced a number of reductions, mostly for the English market, who had a Pre-Raphaelite appreciation of the subject and its treatment. Another version can be found in the collection of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, and a smaller reduction, measuring 68cm, was sold in these rooms on 2 June 2009, lot 82. The present marble has a superb surface, which is testament to Pio Fedi's skill as a virtuoso carver. RELATED LITEARTURE N. Penny, Catalogue of European Sculpture in Ashmolean Museum 1540 to the Present Day, Volume I Italian, Oxford, 1992, no. 32, pp. 35-37