This work, formerly the property of Maria Trincheri Scavino, was held by the Export Office of Milan and bought by the Italian State in 1927. The terracotta, an intense brown colour, is well preserved overall, though there are some noticeable cracks on the base, on the right arm and the small finger of the left hand is missing. There are two large, dark marks at the top of the legs, which are probably burns that occurred during the heating. The statuette has traditionally been attributed, for its stylistic qualities, to Lorenzo Vaccaro, a multi-talented Neapolitan sculptor active in the second half of the 17th century. A pupil of Cosimo Fanzago, Vaccato was heavily influenced by the paintings of Luca Giordano and, especially, Francesco Solimena, such that he became called “the Solimena of sculpture”, though in his work he also drew inspiration from the endless invention of Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Bernardo De Dominici, in his biography of the artist, underlined his qualities as a sculptor, especially when working in stucco, where Lorenzo “made a new style appear, in drapery as in nudes, excellently designed and conceived, with high ideas of composition and movement”. (Vite dei pittori, scultori ed architetti napoletani, Napoli 1846, IV, p. 243). This particular taste in rendering clothing is very clear in this work, above all in the mantle that falls down the right side of the figure, with numerous undulating folds, giving a strongly pictorial effect.

Cristiano Giometti