Giovanni Baratta (1640-1747) Italian, Florence, circa 1697-1700

Francesco Freddolini, Giovanni Baratta, 1670-1747. Scultura e Industria del Marmo tra la Toscana e le Corti d’Europa, Rome, 2013, cat. no. 3, pp. 140 and 141

 

Surface with weathering and lightly waxed. Minor chips throughout. Loss to back of proper left shoulder. Restoration with inpainting in two areas along edges of lower folds of drapery. Stable hairline crack across top of bridge of nose. Metal ring in back of neck. Later marble socle with very minor chips and abrasions.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

RELATED LITERATURE

Hugh Honour, ‘Count Giovanni Baratta and his Brothers’ in Connoisseur, cxlii, 1958, pp. 170–77
Giovanni Pratesi, Repertorio della Scultura fiorentina del Seicento e Settecento, vols. I and II, Turin, 1993
Francesco Freddolini, Carlo Milano, John Winter, Giovanni Baratta: the statues from the Palazzo Giugni rediscovered, Trinity Fine Art, London, 2010

Giovanni Baratta was a distinguished sculptor of the Florentine late Baroque who successfully cultivated patrons from the leading courts of Europe. It was in fact Grand Prince Ferdinando de’ Medici whose recommendation led to Baratta's first major commission, Tobias and the Angel unveiled in 1698, for the church of Santo Spirito. The Grand Prince would later become Baratta's patron. 

Baratta began his career in Florence as a pupil of Giovanni Battista Foggini and Massimiliano Soldani Benzi, but it was in Rome, under the supervision of Camillo Rusconi and Domenico Guidi, that he developed his style. After returning to Florence in 1696, he received commissions to carve sculptures for a variety of churches, and at the beginning of 18th century he enjoyed the patronage of important international clients, including King Frederick IV, King of Denmark. When visiting the sculptor’s Florentine studio in 1709, the king purchased a group of sculptures that are now in the gardens of Rosenborg Castle in Copenhagen. The sculptor’s lucrative relationship with the sovereign, who went on to order numerous architectural elements and sculpture, continued into the 1720s. In 1710 the Duke of Marlborough commissioned two allegorical marble sculptures of Academic Glory and Virtue, the first of which is in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.

In the 1720s, Baratta was appointed Court Sculptor to Vittoria Amadeo II, Duke of Savoy, King of Sardinia and Sicily. His work for the King of Denmark and the House of Savoy provided the sculptor with further illustrious commissions, allowing him to forgo work for private patrons. Through his long-standing relationship with the sculptor Filippo Juvarra with whom Baratta worked on the Palazzo Madama, Turin, he was introduced to the House of Bourbon in the mid 1730s. It was the quality of his work and the magnitude of the commission for the façade of the royal palace of La Granja in San Ildefonso for King Philip V that afforded the sculptor great respect and international notoriety.

Baratta’s figural sculptures, particularly those made in the last years of the 17th century and within the first decade of the 18th century, share many distinguishing features with the present bust of a Youth. Like Baratta’s marble bust of a youth in the Palazzo Corsini, Florence, circa 1696-1697 (Freddolini, cat. no. 1, op. cit., 2013) and his Angel-lectern in Caldi (Pisa), Certosa, circa 1696-1702 (Freddolini et. al., 2010, op. cit., figs. 2 and 8 ), this bust is carved with hair that gently frames the face with undulating locks and loose curls; individual strands of hair are defined. The pupils and irises are incised, the eyebrows form a distinct ridge that curves around the eyes; the lips are parted and the supple flesh of the cheeks reveals the subject’s adolescence. The overriding effect is a light, playful composition suffused with a refinement and grace.

Freddolini draws associations with Baratta’s other early works including  the head of Tobit from his Tobias and the Angel group (1696-1698) in Santo Spirito, Florence, a design from which the present bust may derive. Perhaps the most striking similarity is with the head of the monumental figure of Prudence commissioned by the Guigni Family, circa 1703-1708, an elaborate allegory intended to glorify the Medici family, now in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (fig. 1 detail).  Prudence's long, thin nose, soft chin and bow-shaped lips are clearly fashioned by the same hand as this bust. Furthermore, Baratta’s drapery style betrays his authorship: the faceted plains of the fabric create a dynamic surface that elegantly swathes the body.