Corbel-bearing Angel

Object belonging

One's own

Category

Terracotta sculpture

City

Rome

Location

Museo Nazionale del Palazzo di Venezia

Specific location

Room 21

Inventory

PV 01201

Material and technique

Terracotta/ patina

Author

Pietro Paolo Naldini (1619-1691)

Dating

1673 ca.

Dimensions

28.5 x 21.5 cm

Origin

Museo Nazionale di Castel Sant'Angelo (1920)

Image copyright

SSPSAE e per il Polo Museale della città di Roma

Short description

In 1673 a pulpit was made for the central nave of the church of San Marcello al Corso, designed by Matthia De Rossi. The marble parapets were made by the stonemason Carlo Torriani, and the stucco angel supporting the structure, like a caryatid, is by Paolo Naldini. Naldini fine-tuned the problematic positioning of the angelic figure through this terracotta model, which was acquired by Palazzo Venezia from Castel Sant’Angelo in 1920. In 1948 Federico Hermanin attributed the work to Antonio Raggi but Santangelo correctly re-ascribed the work to Naldini in his 1954 Catalogo delle Sculture, noting its connection with the San Marcello pulpit and highlighting the strength of its modelling, in contrast to the smoothness of the back. Naldini’s strong sense of modelling and his predilection for malleable materials like stucco reflect his training as a painter in the workshop of Andrea Sacchi (1599-1661).

Cristiano Giometti 

Bibliography

A. Santangelo (ed.), Museo di Palazzo Venezia. Catalogo delle sculture, Roma 1954, p. 90; M. G. Barberini (ed.), Sculture in terracotta del Barocco romano. Bozzetti e modelli del Museo Nazionale del Palazzo di Venezia, catalogo delle mostra, Roma 1991, p. 53; M. G. Barberini, P. Cannata and S. E. Zuraw (eds.), Masterpieces of Renaissance and Baroque Sculpture from the Palazzo Venezia, exh. cat., Athens 1996, pp. 76-77; O. Ferrari and S. Papaldo, Le sculture del Seicento a Roma, Roma 1999, p. 509