A saint
Italian School
Category
Art / Sculpture
Date
c. 1625 - c. 1675
Materials
Silver
Measurements
287 x 121 x 57 mm
Place of origin
Italy
Order this imageCollection
Anglesey Abbey, Cambridgeshire
NT 516409
Summary
Silver, statuette of a saint, Italian School, c. 1625-75. A silver figure of a saint, standing and facing to his left, gesticulating with left hand held up before him, right arm raised. He is dressed in a voluminous robe, open at the front. Probably made in Italy in the 17th century. The figure is raised from sheet silver, the body formed from a cylindrical section seamed and soldered at sides, extensively hammered and worked, especially on the robes. Some holes in the surface, for example to left of saint’s head. Mounted on a later silver base and on an ebonised wood stand.
Full description
Together with its companion saint, probably a depiction of Saint Paul (NT 516408), this lively statuette may originally have formed part of a group of figures of saints adorning a tabernacle. The ensemble might have looked something like the gilt-bronze and lapis tabernacle made by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680) for the Chapel of the Most Blessed Sacrament in St Peter’s, Rome. Commissioned in 1629 but not completed until 1675, the tabernacle is in the form of a circular temple, around the dome of which are placed figures of the twelve Apostles (Jennifer Montagu, Gold, Silver and Bronze. Metal Sculpture of the Roman Baroque, New Haven/London 1996, pp. 62-72, figs. 84-100). The sculpture seems to show some awareness of Bernini and his Baroque style. It may have been made in Rome, but could also have been produced in another centre, such as Naples to the south of Rome or Bologna to the north. Jeremy Warren 2019
Provenance
Bequeathed to the National Trust by Huttleston Rogers Broughton, 1st Lord Fairhaven (1896-1966) with the house and the rest of the contents.
Credit line
Anglesey Abbey, The Fairhaven Collection (The National Trust)
Makers and roles
Italian School, silversmith