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Carved basswood mermaid, Surroundings of Filippo...

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18000 EUR

Carved basswood mermaid, Surroundings of Filippo Parodi (1630-1702) Italy, late 17th century Basswood, Italy late 17th century Dimensions: h. 74 cm, w. 77 cm, d. 48 cm (at base) Magnificent Italian Baroque sculpture of a mermaid on a rock. All the sculptor's virtuosity is displayed in this sculpted group. The fantastic creature is depicted seated, her upper body jutting forward, her head looking up. Her sophisticated hairstyle features strands of pearls intertwined in her hair, with loose strands blowing in the wind and adding movement to the sculpture as a whole. Wide-open eyes with hollowed-out pupils allow us to follow the mermaid's gaze skywards. The half-open mouth further enhances this bewitching, seductive attitude. Her long, double tail ending in fins curls around a rocky mound strewn with objects evoking the underwater world: shells and coral branches. The richness of the ornamentation combined with the great care taken in its execution make this a work in which the splendor of Italian Baroque art unfolds in characteristic scenic movement. The composition betrays a strong influence from Filippo Parodi, the leader of Genoese Baroque sculpture, and points to an artist from his circle. Our sculpture was undoubtedly part of a monumental palatial decorative ensemble. The iconographic theme evoking the marine world finds its application in the numerous fountains and artificial grottoes designed in Italian palaces at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries. Giacomo Filippo Parodi (Genoa 1630 - July 22, 1702) was an Italian Baroque sculptor of the Genoese school, who introduced Bernini's aesthetics to Genoa. In his youth, after an initial apprenticeship with a carpenter, he went to Rome, where he became a pupil of Bernini. He also had the opportunity to admire in person the works and style of French sculptor Pierre Puget, who was in Genoa from 1661 to 1668, and was greatly influenced by them. Thus, despite his advanced age, Filippo Parodi gradually moved away from woodcarving to work in marble. After the departure of the French artist, he established himself as the leading sculptor of Baroque Genoa. He produced numerous works for Genoa's noble families, including the statue of the Vergine con Angeli in the church of San Luca. He also hired out his services to Venice and Padua. Among his pupils were a number of fine sculptors, including his son-in-law Giacomo Antonio Ponsonelli, Andrea Brustolon, Francesco Biggi, Domenico Garibaldo, Bernardo Schiaffino and above all Angelo de Rossi, who in some of his works managed to equal the master. His son Domenico (1668-1740), apprenticed to Sebastiano Bombelli and later to Carlo Maratta and Paolo Gerolamo Piola, was an important painter. He inherited his father's studio, at the time the most important in Genoa, and expanded it with Biggi's help.

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