Pelagio Palagi (Bologna, 25 may 1775 - Torino, 6 march 1860) Scagliola fireplace decorated with allegorical figures on black marble (138x102x21) (losses and restorations)   The fireplace is a coeval replica of the specimen made in 1834 for the Etruscan Cabinet at Racconigi Castle. The work to modernize the rooms in that building was commissioned in 1832 by King Carlo Alberto of Savoy Carignano of Sardinia shortly after his ascension to the throne in 1831. The building site was entrusted to the painter and architect Pelagio Palagi(1775-1860) who was responsible for the decorations of the rooms among which the Etruscan Cabinet intended as the King's study and reception room stands out (Bertrand de Royere, Pelagio Palagi. Décorateur des Palais Royaux de Turin et di Piémont, Paris, 2017, pp.101-2, 234-240). The room, one of the finest examples of Palagi's eclecticism and historicist taste in the first half of the 19th century, features painted decoration on the vault and walls made by Giovanbattista Airaghi (1803-1855) inspired by the paintings of the Knight's Tomb, discovered in 1827 in Tarquinia, and by Apulian vascular findings taken from collections such as the Antiquités étrusques , grecques et romaines du cabinet de M Hamilton, by d'Hancarville (published in Naples, 1766-67). Furnished with furniture made by the famous court cabinetmaker Gabriele Capello, known as Moncalvo, the room is entirely based on the colors of brown, ochre, white and black following the model of ancient vase painting. Centering this elaborate setting, the fireplace unfolds the juxtaposition of ochre scagliola inlays on the black marble background the figures of winged maidens pouring water from vases, placed in the segments of the arch, and figures standing on plinths. In the Biblioteca Civica dell' Archiginnasio in Bologna some preparatory studies by Palagi's hand for this fireplace are preserved (de Royere, figs. 157-8). Executors of this composition were the sculptor Pietro Barbieri and for the "marmorino" work, as written in a payment, Francesco Gussoni, who must therefore have been the one who made the figures and ornamental motifs; the whole was finished and polished by Pietro Brusa (de Royere, p.234).

Estimate € 10,000 - 12,000

Sold € 24,000