Arrotino (The Knife Grinder)
Italian School
Category
Art / Sculpture
Date
1770 - 1799
Materials
Marble
Measurements
510 mm (Height)
Order this imageCollection
Stourhead, Wiltshire
NT 732938
Summary
Marble, Arrotino (The Knife Grinder), Italian School, late 18th century. Marble figure of Arrotino or The Scythian Slave, after the antique, crouching and sharpening a knife, separate marble base. The original in is the Uffizi, Florence, acquired in 1578 from the Mignanelli family by Cardinal Ferdinando de' Medici. It was first recorded in a drawing by Marten van Heemskerck when he was in Rome between 1532 and 1536 and by 1156 it belonged to Niccolo Guisa and in 1561 to Paolantonio Soderini - who also owned Pasquino.
Makers and roles
Italian School, sculptor
References
Haskell and Penny 1981: Francis Haskell and Nicholas Penny, Taste and the Antique, The Lure of Classical Sculpture 1500 - 1900, New Haven and London, 1981, 11