Estimate
€ 1.500 - 2.000
Sold
€ 1.935
The price includes buyer's premium
Do you have a similar item you would like to sell?
Information
bronze sculpture
cm 42.5 x 26.5 x 21.5
A cast of this delightful bronze group was exhibited for the first time at the XXIII Esposizione della Promotrice di Belle Arti in Naples in 1888, where it was so successful that it was purchased by the Society itself at the end of the Exhibition. In this work, the couple, in traditional Spanish dress, are depicted with a wealth of details that make the surface of the sculpture material and vibrant, while the composition enclosed between the fan and the girl's mantilla accentuates the sense of intimacy of the scene. De Matteis displays here all that "very personal form rebellious [...] to any academic conventionalism" (E. Giannelli) that made him so appreciated and made him emerge in the already rich Neapolitan artistic scene of the second half of the nineteenth century.
cm 42.5 x 26.5 x 21.5
signed on the right on the base: F. de Matteis
Bibliography of the subject:
E. Giannelli, Artisti Napoletani Viventi, Naples 1916, pp. 562-563;
I. Valente (curated by), Il Bello o il Vero, Naples 2014, p. 304.
A cast of this delightful bronze group was exhibited for the first time at the XXIII Esposizione della Promotrice di Belle Arti in Naples in 1888, where it was so successful that it was purchased by the Society itself at the end of the Exhibition. In this work, the couple, in traditional Spanish dress, are depicted with a wealth of details that make the surface of the sculpture material and vibrant, while the composition enclosed between the fan and the girl's mantilla accentuates the sense of intimacy of the scene. De Matteis displays here all that "very personal form rebellious [...] to any academic conventionalism" (E. Giannelli) that made him so appreciated and made him emerge in the already rich Neapolitan artistic scene of the second half of the nineteenth century.