TEFAF Opens in Maastricht March 16
A this year’s art fair at Maastricht, Moretti Fine Art will be offering a terracotta lion, a model likely produced in conjunction with a monument intended to celebrate the ascension of Queen Anne, which took place on this date 310 years ago (8 March 1702). Press release from Sue Bond:
The European Fine Art Fair (TEFAF)
Maastricht, 16-25 March 2012
Giovan Battista Foggini (Florence, 1652-1725) "Lion," ca. 1715 Modelled hollow terracotta; original bronze patina imitation Base: 18.5 x 9.6 cm Lion: 26 x 24.4 x 17.6 cm
Moretti Fine Art will mark ten years at TEFAF Maastricht with some exceptional Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque Italian paintings and works of art. The fair, which is the world’s leading art and antiques event, is celebrating its Silver Jubilee and will take place at the Maastricht Exhibition and Congress Centre (MECC) from 16 to 25 March 2012. Stand 384.
One of the rarities Moretti will be offering is a terracotta figure of a lion dating from around 1715 by Giovan Battista Foggini (Florence, 1652-1725), almost certainly a model produced by this great Tuscan sculptor for a commemorative monument to England’s Queen Anne. Foggini was the court sculptor and architect to the Medici from 1687 until his death. In 1711 the British Parliament decided to celebrate their monarch Queen Anne who had ascended the throne in 1702. Initially they
planned to build fifty new churches but the cost was too high,
so in 1714 it was decided to build just one, Saint Mary-le-Strand,
and commission a statue of the sovereign.
Giovan Battista Foggini (Florence, 1652-1725) "Lion," ca. 1715 Modelled hollow terracotta; original bronze patina imitation Base: 18.5 x 9.6 cm Lion: 26 x 24.4 x 17.6 cm
John Talman, British Consul, scholar and collector of Italian art and antiquities, commissioned Foggini to build the monument which, had it been completed, would have been one of the most important accomplishments of public statuary in 18th-century Europe as illustrated by the surviving Foggini drawings in the Uffizi in Florence. One of these drawings depicts two lions seen from the back, one of which closely follows this model as it crouches, back arched and powerful, twisting its head with jaws open wide. These drawings, together with this recently-identified terracotta model, represent the only figurative evidence of this extraordinary commission. The modeling of the lion is especially skilled and vigorous, capturing the innate power, pride, majesty and monumentality of the animal even in this small scale. The figure, which retains its original patina simulating bronze,
is priced at €380,000.
Call for Nominations | Marc Raeff Book Prize
Marc Raeff Book Prize for Outstanding Work on Imperial Russia
Nominations due by 30 June 2012
The Eighteenth-Century Russian Studies Association, an affiliate organization of the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES), is now accepting submissions for the second annual Marc Raeff Book Prize. The prize is awarded annually for a publication that is of exceptional merit and lasting significance for understanding Imperial Russia, particularly during the long eighteenth-century. The recipient of the award will be recognized with a cash prize, which will be presented in November 2012, during the ASEEES annual convention. The award is sponsored by the ECRSA and named in honor of Marc Raeff (1923-2008), historian, teacher, and dix–huitièmiste par excellence. (more…)
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