Lot 67: Scipone Tadolini Italian, 1822-1893 , A kneeling Odalisque white marble, on a white marble base, with revolving top (2)

signed and dated: EQ. SCIPIO. TADOLINI. ROMAE. 1871 white marble, on a white marble base, with revolving top (2)

measurements note figure: 84cm., 34in. base: 106cm., 41¾in.

The Tadolini family occupies a fascinating position in the history of Roman sculpture. Four generations of the family of stone carvers lived and worked in the same studio for some 150 years. The building still exisits today, on the corner of the Via del Babuino over looked by the Greek Church of S. Anastasia. It is now the Canova-Tadolini Museum. Adamo Tadolini was an assistant in Canova's studio and was responsible for producing the working models for many of Canova's most important works. His skill was noticed and Canova himself helped Adamo establish his own studio at the via del Babuino.

Scipione, the eldest son, was trained in his father's studio. His sensous and elegant nude Ninfa Pescatrice set him apart from his father and Canova's style. Scipione was less a neo-classical sculptor and combined classical subject matter with a Romantic execution very much in the popular taste of the period. Scipione was overwhelmed with commissions, including a marble for the church of Gonfalone in Rome, an equestrian of Bolivar for Lima, a St. Micheal for a wealthy Bostonian and the very important bust of King Vittorio Emanuele I. Pope Pius IX and the queen of Italy were amoung the many notables who visited his studio.

The present figure of an odalisque shows a kneeling female slave in the harem of a Turkish sultan. Odalisques were not concubines. They did not serve the sultan, but rather, his concubines and wives. If an odalisque possessed extreme beauty or talent, however, she could be elevated to the status of concubine. The subject of the odalisque became particularily popular in the 19th-century, heralded by the orientalists movement. Tadolini's odalisque is very much in this Romantic vein and is similiar to his popular figure of a standing slave, a version of which was sold in these salesrooms on the 22nd of June 1998, lot 70.