Ugo Zannoni (1836-1919) Andromeda White marble Signed... Lot 238

Ugo Zannoni (1836-1919) Andromeda White marble Signed "Ugo Zannoni fece" on reverse Height: 65 , Width: 43 , Depth: 40 cm. Soiling, restoration to thumb Related work : Ugo Zannoni, Andromeda, marble 1859, Palazzo Spinola, Milan Related literature: -Ss dir. Francesca Rossi, La mano che crea: la galleria pubblica di Ugo Zannoni 1836-1919: scultore, collezionista e mecenate, cat. exp., Verona, Galeria d'Arte moderna 'Achille Forti', Verona, June 27, 2020- January 31, 2021, 2020. A native of Verona, Ugo Zannoni first trained as a painter in the studio of Grazioso Spazzi (1816-1892), before devoting himself to sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice and then at the Brera Academy in Milan. He regularly exhibited busts and genre subjects in major Italian cities and abroad. He also took on official commissions, such as the monumental sculpture of the famous Dante Alighieri created in 1864 for the Piazza dei Signori in Verona. This marble sculpture, depicting the tragic scene of a young woman on her knees, hands bound, imploring Heaven, represents Andromeda, daughter of King Cepheus, victim of her mother Cassiopeia's pride. The treatment of the subject testifies to the artist's perfect mastery of marble and, above all, to the influence of the theme of the woman enslaved by the idealized canon that emerged from the encounter in Italian statuary in the second half of the 19th century between the neoclassical tradition, the Romantic movement and the themes of nascent Orientalism. Zannoni's female figures from the early years of his career met with great success, particularly his first version of Andromeda, created in 1859 and now exhibited in Milan. This figure also bears the lasting imprint of Canova and his Marie Madeleine pénitente (1793, marble, H. 90 cm, Palazzo Doria-Tursi, Genoa).