Lot 2297 Dα

Antonio Bottinelli

A marble figure of Beatrice Cenci by Antonio Bottinelli

Worked in the round. The Roman patrician Beatrice Cenci (1577-1599) has remained famous to this day because she was publicly executed at the age of only 22 as the instigator of the murder of her criminal father, following a spectacular trial. Especially in the 19th century, her life became the subject of numerous works of literature and visual art.

This sculpture, marked "BEATRICE CENCI" on the front of the plinth, shows her chained in the dungeon with a small cross in her hand. On its reverse side it is signed and dated "A. Bottinelli Roma 1881" at the bottom left. The sculptor Antonio Bottinelli, who worked in Rome from 1852 until the end of his life and was very successful in his time, was represented with his romanticising sculptures at all the world exhibitions in Paris, London, Melbourne, Philadelphia and Vienna.
In good overall condition, only the tip of the cross in the left hand has been provisionally reattached. Includes a marble plinth (height 97 cm). 81 x 40 x 45 cm.