Bust, Marble, Italian, 18th cent, Giuseppe Mazzuoli

Bust, marble. The Cardinal is portrayed wearing a biretta and cassock. He looks rather sharply to his right with a fixed gaz, his lips slightly parted and his right eyebrow raised. The lower edge of the cassock where the bust is truncated has a lively movement, and this impression is reinforced by the play of folds and creases on the cassock, which suggests the fall of light on shot silk. The biretta is set on Panciatichi's head at a tilt, forward and to his right, which gives a faintly jaunty look to the sitter. The sculptor makes much play with the intricate folds of flesh beneath the chin which add to the effect of a turning movement suddenly arrested. Occasional buttons down the front of the cassock are only partly done up, while those near the bottom are completely undone, a trick meant to give an effect of sponaneity that was frequently employed by sculptors of the baroque period. Inscribed on the back.

Purchased with Art Fund support

Bought from the Heim Gallery for £5,000 and presented to the Museum by the National Art-Collections in honour of Sir Trenchard Cox.

This is one of the rare portrait busts by Mazzuoli and one of his last dated works. The Cardinal was an important figure at the Papal Court under Alexander VIII, Innocent XII and Clement XI. Mazzuoili was responsible for much Baroque sculpture in Siena and Rome, including the series of Twelve Apostles preserved in the London Oratory, Brompton Road.

A.8-1966