Lot 163: ULISSE CAMBI

ULISSE CAMBI ITALIAN 1807 - 1895 DAPHNIS AND CHLÖE white marble, with spherical wood column marble group: 163cm., 64¼in. wood column: 56cm., 22in.

Ulisse Cambi entered the Florence Accademia di Belle Arti at a very young age and continued his studies in Rome where he completed his Dafni e Cloè in 1834. Cambi eventually became professor of sculpture at the Accademia in Florence, and another version of his Dafni e Cloè is preserved in the Pitti Palace. One further version of the model is known and is illustrated by Alfonso Panetta.

Cambi favoured a neo-classicism tempered by the 'verissmo' or naturalism made popular in Italian sculpture by Lorenzo Bartolini. The classical subject of Daphnis and Chloe was perfectly suited to Cambi's style. The subject is taken from the 2nd century novel of the same name by Longus which tells the story of the sweet and innocent love between a shepherd and shepherdess.

RELATED LITERATURE
A. Panzetta, Nuovo dizionario degli scultori italiani, vol. 1, Turin, 2003, p. 194, fig.564; V. Vicario, Gli scultori italiani, vol. 1, Lodi, 1994, p. 230-2