King David with a Putto Playing the Harp

Object belonging

One's own

Category

Terracotta sculpture

City

Rome

Location

Museo Nazionale del Palazzo di Venezia

Specific location

Room 21

Inventory

PV 13265

Material and technique

Terracotta

Author

Michel Maille (1648-1736)

Dating

1682-1684

Dimensions

36x30 cm.

Origin

Gorga Collection (1948)

Image copyright

SSPSAE e per il Polo Museale della città di Roma

Short description

Amongst the many renowned students that trained in the atelier of Ercole Ferrata in via Carceri Nuove, a hotbed of talented artists, the figure of Michel Maille stands out, recognised by the major critics of the time for his high level of skill. Towards the end of the 1670s, the Burgundian was involved in several monumental decorative projects that used stucco as the preeminent material; Maille proved himself a highly adept and sensitive exponent of using stucco, to the point where he could repeat the effects even when working in stone. In 1682, Maille took part in the work to modernize the church of Gesù e Maria on the Corso, work that was entrusted to Carlo Rainaldi by Monsignor Giorgio Bolognetti, the archbishop of Rieti. Maille was commissioned to execute all the figures on the left wall: the six Prophets with Putti, either side of the windows on the upper level, saints Joachim and Zacharias in the niches under the cornice and King David with a Putto Playing the Harp beside the large window of the counter-façade, the terracotta maquette of which is preserved in the Palazzo Venezia museum. The two figures are set in a curved frame that replicates the curvature of the church roof; although the upper part of the relief is fragmentary and David has lost both his forearms, it does not hinder the overall composition, and on the left side of the relief the metric rule used to scale up the model can still be clearly made out. David, in a static position and with his legs slightly splayed, like the angel that is half-kneeling while playing the harp, stands out from the background by virtue of the strong modelling, all the while maintaining a graceful air which sets apart the faces and studied rhythms of the clothes.

Cristiano Giometti 

Bibliography

M. G. Barberini (ed.), Sculture in terracotta del Barocco romano. Bozzetti e modelli del Museo Nazionale del Palazzo di Venezia, exh. cat., Roma 1991, p. 59; O. Ferrari and S. Papaldo, Le sculture del Seicento a Roma, Roma 1999, p. 508