Age of Elegance: European Paintings, Furniture and Works of Art from the 19th Century

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Lot 31
  • 31

Riccardo Aurili

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Description

  • Riccardo Aurili
  • Flower Basin with a nude drying her foot
  • signed: Profe R Aurili on the basin and inscribed: Eseguita sotto la direzione del Prof: R. Romanelli
  • white marble and mottled lilac and white marble basin, with lead lining

Catalogue Note

The Romanelli were a family of prolific and highly regarded sculptors in 19th century Florence. Raffaello, son of Pasquale and father of Romano, was noted by contemporaries as ‘the most popular sculptor in Italy’. Aurili was a colleague of the renowned Raffaello, with whom he collaborated with to execute this charming composition. 

 Aurili, who was probably of Tuscan origin, was a sculptor acknowledged for his busts and works inspired by mythology.  He exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1893, 1894 and 1896.

 Aurili has demonstrated his admiration of Classical statuary in the simple purity and beauty of the present marble figure. However, the genre detail of this sculpture - as the lady perches on a bath and dries her leg - modernises the Classical tone of the statue and places it among the popular genre of sculptures dealing with everyday subject matter of the nineteenth century. The functionality of the work of art, serving also as a flower basin, adds both a touch of humour and luxury.

RELATED LITERATURE

A. Panzetta, Nuovo dizionario degli scultori italiani dell’ottocento e del primo novecento, Turin, 2003, vol. 1, p. 37 and vol. 2 p. 782