A white Carrara marble group on an associated rotating dark green scagliola and white veined marble pedestal.

The virtuoso carving on this work is reminiscent of the prodigious output from the Carrara studios at the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries.  The subject matter was very popular amongst first generation Italian immigrants who held an abiding nostalgia for the bucolic family roots of their homeland.  Sculpture figured prominently in the family status of the new Americans and reflected their relative economic success.  Much of the output of the Lazzarini, Romanelli and Frilli Galleries found its way to the New World at this time.  The flourishing trade in marble sculpture was underpinned by the Academies in Carrara (close to the marble quarries) and in Florence, Cambi’s native town.  Both Academies schooled keen students in every aspect of sculpture from close copies of antique pieces to Biblical and Romantic subjects of which the present work is a fine example. 

Ulisse Cambi’s other works included Dafni e Cloe (1834), Aconzio (1835), Cellini (1845) and Sabatelli (1884). After leaving the Accademia di Belle Arte in Florence he pursued his studies in Rome and then in Paris winning the first prize at The Beaux-Arts. His portrayal of familiar subjects, particularly children, in natural and graceful poses demonstrated his mastery of this medium of which the present work is a fine example.

Unsigned; attributed to Ulisse Cambi

Height: 38 inches (97 cm) on rotating marble base 72 inches (183 cm) overall.

Condition: An unrestored decorative work in an extremely fine condition

Provenance: From an Italian-American family collection, Philadelphia

References:

Alfonso Panzetta: Nuovo Dizionario degli Scultori Italiani Dell’Ottocento e del Primo Novecento [ Adarte 2003]

The Lustrous Trade [Leicester University Press, 2000]

E. Benezit: Dictionnaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Desssinateurs et Graveurs [Grund, 1999]