Woman with Locks (Flora)

myminifactory

Baratta hails from a distinguished family of sculptors that has its roots in Carrara. Pietro was an active presence in Venice and his most renowned work is the elaborate Brandolin monument (1708) in the church of Cison di Valmarino. In 1710, he traveled to Rome, executed works for the Udine Cathedral, and created a large collection of busts and statues for Peter the Great, many of which remain in Russia to this day. He returned to Carrara approximately two years before his demise. The bust is quintessential of late 17th - early 18th century Venetian art and indeed other sculptures by Baroque artists active in Venice such as Orazio Marinali (1643-1720) exhibit striking similarities. Artists of that generation were influenced by the works of Giusto le Court (1627-1679), a Flemish sculptor who spent time in Rome before relocating to Venice in the middle of the 17th century. There, he revitalized the local tradition for sculpture which had fallen into decline and introduced the Baroque style with theatrical inflections and robust modeling. A pair of busts by Marinali now housed in the Ponce Museum, Puerto Rico, as well as the Bust of a man believed to represent Heraclitus in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, also by Marinali, can be compared to our busts in terms of typology but also in the treatment of the marble. They depict bearded men in truncated busts, their heads turned to one side and their mouths half-open, with the drapery covering part of the head in the case of Heraclitus. Such portraits are thought to have formed part of cycles with busts of philosophers created for villas in the Veneto. Stylistically, the pair is reminiscent of two other sculptures by Baratta, Saint Joseph and Saint Anne in the church of Saint Sebastian, which present a similar treatment of the drapery with deep folds creating sharp angles. The bust of Heraclitus also bears a striking resemblance to the Allegory of Winter by Baratta in the Summer Garden, Saint Petersburg.