A late 19th century Italian carved white marble figure of a young sprite riding a seahorsePossibly from the Studio of Galleria Romanelli The young semi-clad boy standing on the back of a sea creature and holding aloft a whip, raised on a crested foaming wave and a moulded oval base, 96cm highFootnotesFounded in Florence in the mid-19th century by the sculptor Pasquale Romanelli Pasquale (1812-1887), the Galleria Romanelli was one of several studio workshops in the city including Pietro Barzanti and Cesare Lapini that catered to the ever-increasing numbers of tourists visiting Italy in the second half of the century, particularly from England and American and also for the burgeoning export market. Pasquale's son Raffaello later took over the studio and he continued in the family business creating high quality copies of antique sculptures and depictions of the mythological and allegorical subjects that were then highly fashionable and popular. Here the subject of the offered lot is perhaps inspired by the sea myths and legends of Greek and Roman mythology. Romanelli also worked on important commissions for the Italian government and is remembered today for the portraits he produced of kings, popes, and aristocrats, such as his bust of Princess Marina Borghese which is in the collection of the National Gallery of Modern Art in Rome.
A late 19th century Italian carved white marble figure of a young sprite riding a seahorsePossibly from the Studio of Galleria Romanelli The young semi-clad boy standing on the back of a sea creature and holding aloft a whip, raised on a crested foaming wave and a moulded oval base, 96cm highFootnotesFounded in Florence in the mid-19th century by the sculptor Pasquale Romanelli Pasquale (1812-1887), the Galleria Romanelli was one of several studio workshops in the city including Pietro Barzanti and Cesare Lapini that catered to the ever-increasing numbers of tourists visiting Italy in the second half of the century, particularly from England and American and also for the burgeoning export market. Pasquale's son Raffaello later took over the studio and he continued in the family business creating high quality copies of antique sculptures and depictions of the mythological and allegorical subjects that were then highly fashionable and popular. Here the subject of the offered lot is perhaps inspired by the sea myths and legends of Greek and Roman mythology. Romanelli also worked on important commissions for the Italian government and is remembered today for the portraits he produced of kings, popes, and aristocrats, such as his bust of Princess Marina Borghese which is in the collection of the National Gallery of Modern Art in Rome.
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
