The Blessed Ambrogio Sansedoni Visited by the Devil thumbnail 1
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Europe 1600-1815, Room 6, The Lisa and Bernard Selz Gallery

The Blessed Ambrogio Sansedoni Visited by the Devil

Model
ca. 1700 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This sketch model in wax was made, together with A.1-1963, by Massimilano Soldani in Florence in around 1700, as a design for a bronze relief in the Chapel of the Palazzo Sansedoni at Siena. The reliefs represent scenes from the life of the Blessed Ambrogio Sansedoni - in this one he is feeding the pilgrims. The chapel for which they were made was the room in which the illustrious ancestor of the Sansedoni had once lived.

Soldani received his training as a sculptor and medallist in Rome and Paris before being recalled to Florence, where he worked for about 40 years as the Master of the Mint for the Medici Grand-Dukes of Tuscany. The desire to collect the creative processes of the artist in tangible form that had developed, notably in Florence, in the sixteenth century, was still alive. It appears that Soldani gave at least some of his models away, and these two reliefs were given by him to the Sansedoni family as gifts, probably in the frames in which they are still housed.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleThe Blessed Ambrogio Sansedoni Visited by the Devil (popular title)
Materials and techniques
Wax relief
Brief description
Model, wax relief, The Blessed Ambrogio Sansedoni Visited by the Devil, by Massimiliano Soldani, Italy (Florence), ca. 1700
Physical description
'The Blessed Ambrogio Sansedoni Visited by the Devil', oval relief sketch model in wax.
Dimensions
  • Height: 79.4cm
  • Width: 70.5cm
  • Frame height: 100.3cm
  • Frame width: 83.5cm
  • Maximum depth: 13cm
Measured by Conservation 2012. Depth measurements by SCP (LS) and FTF (DH) for Europe 1600-1800 on 4/1/2012.
Gallery label
THE BLESSED AMBROGIO SANSENDONI VISITED BY THE DEVIL Italian (Florence); 1692-1700 Sketch model in wax By Massimiliano Soldani Purchased with the aid of a contribution from the Hildburgh Fund The model is for a bronze relief in the chapel of the Palazzo Sansedoni, Siena. Massimiliano Soldani received his training as a sculptor in Rome and Paris before being recalled to Florence, where he worked for about forty years as master of Coins and Custodian of the Mint for the Medici Grand-Dukes of Tuscany. See The Blessed Ambrogio Sansedoni Feeding the Pilgrims on the adjacent wall. (1993 - 2011)
Credit line
Purchased with the aid of a contribution from the Hildburgh Fund
Object history
This dark red wax relief and its pair (A.2-1963) are models for bronze reliefs, which were cast by Massimiliano Soldani-Benzi (1658-1740) for the chapel of the Palazzo Sansedoni at Siena. They show scenes from the life of the Blessed Ambrogio Sansedoni; in this one he is visited by the Devil.

Both differ in the details from the bronzes realised after the design, which were placed in the room in which the saint had once lived. Soldani gave both these reliefs to the Sansedoni family at Siena (see Zikos in Vienna 2005, loc.cit.), and probably had them placed within their current frames for the purpose of their display within the palace.

Purchased together with A.1-1963 in 1963.
Historical context
This and A.1-1963 are sketch models for a bronze relief in the chapel of the Palazzo Sansedoni in Siena. The chapel was in fact the very room in which the saint had once lived, and it was granted all the privileges of a full-scale church by Pope Innocent XII.
Subjects depicted
Summary
This sketch model in wax was made, together with A.1-1963, by Massimilano Soldani in Florence in around 1700, as a design for a bronze relief in the Chapel of the Palazzo Sansedoni at Siena. The reliefs represent scenes from the life of the Blessed Ambrogio Sansedoni - in this one he is feeding the pilgrims. The chapel for which they were made was the room in which the illustrious ancestor of the Sansedoni had once lived.

Soldani received his training as a sculptor and medallist in Rome and Paris before being recalled to Florence, where he worked for about 40 years as the Master of the Mint for the Medici Grand-Dukes of Tuscany. The desire to collect the creative processes of the artist in tangible form that had developed, notably in Florence, in the sixteenth century, was still alive. It appears that Soldani gave at least some of his models away, and these two reliefs were given by him to the Sansedoni family as gifts, probably in the frames in which they are still housed.
Associated object
A.1-1963 (Part)
Bibliographic references
  • Klaus Lankheit, Florentinische Barockplastik; die Kunst am Hofe der letzten Medici, 1670-1743, Munich: F. Bruckmann, 1962 pp. 89-92, pls. 37-43
  • Giovanni Pratesi, Repertorio della Scultura Fiorentina del seicento e settecento, Turin: Umberto Allemandi, 1993, 3 vols Vol III, pl. 512
  • Johann Kräftner (ed.), Baroque luxury porcelain : the manufactories of Du Paquier in Vienna and of Carlo Ginori in Florence, exh. cat., Munich ; New York : Prestel, 2005 p. 159 (Dimitrios Zikos)
Collection
Accession number
A.2-1963

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Record createdJune 24, 2009
Record URL
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