marble figure of Michelangelo carving the head of Faun
$47,500.00
Young Michelangelo
Carrara marble.
Signed: P. Bazzanti, Florence (Italian, 1825-1895)
Circa 1870
This magnificent 19th-century hand-carved marble sculpture depicts the young artist carving his first known work, a faun's head.
The richly detailed Michelangelo standing holding a hammer and chisel while carving the head of Faun, a symbol of fertility. Finely executed with intricate detail throughout. The statue is raised on a green marble pedestal.
Dimensions
Height with pedestal: 73" (185 cm)
Width with pedestal: 19" (48 cm)
Depth with pedestal: 18" (45 cm)
Height of sculpture: 38" (96 cm)
Width of sculpture: 17" (43 cm)
Depth of sculpture: 13" (33 cm)
Head of a faun is a lost sculpture by Italian Renaissance master Michelangelo, dating from circa 1489. His first known work of sculpture in marble, it was sculpted when he was 15 or 16 as a copy of an antique work with some minor alterations. According to Giorgio Vasari's biography of the artist, it was the creation of this work that secured the young Michelangelo the patronage of Lorenzo Dear Medici.
Pietro Bazzanti (1825-1895), Son of the renowned sculptor Nicolò Bazzanti specialized in allegorical and genre subjects as well as copies of Antique and Renaissance sculpture. Regarded as one of the most talented sculptors of his day, his studio in Florence became a centre for other important sculptors such as Ferdinando Vichi, Cesare Lapini and Guglielmo Pugi. Many of these sculptor's works are inscribed Galleria Bazzanti
