Filippo della Valle (Florence 1698-Rome 1768)... Lot 33

Filippo della Valle (Florence 1698-Rome 1768) - Flora on tracing paper with watermark H mm 430x270 Sanguigna Expert opinion by Professor Claudio Strinati: "The inscription on the sheet itself that refers without any doubtquesto drawing to Luca Giordano is totally unfounded and must have been affixed, if only judging by the handwriting, long after the execution of the work. The only noteworthy testimony is that the drawing was acquired in Rome and the author is in fact Roman, although Tuscan by birth.This is a superb autograph by the great eighteenth-century sculptor Filippodella Valle, remembered with immense praise by ancient sources for some of the most beautiful works executed at the time, a participant, moreover, in the undertaking of theFontana di Trevi where he left some of his memorable things. And it is precisely the comparison with the two Allegories of Salubrity and Abundance carved, around 1760, on the front of the Fountain of Trevidal della Valle, that induces us to consider this drawing under consideration here as a study elaborated by the Master for a large allegorical statue of similarimposition and exactly at the same time when he put his hand toiprojects for those two admirable statues for the Trevi Fountain.The subtlety of the stroke and the harmonious complexity of the drapery give this image that typical Baroque movement that Filippo della Valleexpresses without any temptation to rhetoric or, worse, fatuity,keeping instead sober and vigilant.This drawing is of the noblest expression and the perfect preservation contributes and makes it as fascinating as ever. In faith, Claudio Strinati"