ITALIAN, PROBABLY ROME, LATE 17TH/ EARLY 18TH CENTURY | BUST OF APOLLO

This elegant bust of the god Apollo recalls Roman late baroque sculpture in the wake of Alessandro Algardi (1598-1654), who pioneered the image of the idealised male youth in works such as his Borghese Table (Montagu, 1985, op. cit., no. 208) and St Philip Neri (see the terracotta head in the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg, inv. no. 1976.86). The present Apollo, with his hair flowing back in curling locks from an off-centre parting, is in the tradition of youths based on the ancient archetypal portrait of Alexander the Great, reflected in Bernini's Daniel in Sta Maria del Popolo, and the St Sebastian in S. Agnese in Piazza Navona by Paolo Campi (fl. 1702-1742) (Engass, op. cit., fig. 182). The hair of Campi's Sebastian is a particularly appropriate comparison for the present bust, which is set apart as a bust of Apollo by the wonderful locks which rush away from the fringe as if caught in a sudden breeze. The carving of the hair and drapery is very fine. For a slightly earlier comparative, note the Bust of Jupiter by Domenico Guidi (1625-1701) in palazzo Gerini, Florence (Giometti, op. cit., pp. 334-337, no. 24.OA).

RELATED LITERATURE

R. Engass, Early Eighteenth-Century Sculpture in Rome, University Park and London, 1976; J. Montagu, Alessandro Algardi, New Haven and Yale, 1985; J. Montagu, Roman Baroque Sculpture: The Industry of Art, New Haven and London, 1989; C. Giometti, Domenico Guidi 1625-1701: Uno scultore barocco di fama europea, Rome, 2010