Francesco Bertos
Attributed to. An Allegorical Group of the Triumph of Religion.
A terracotta bozzetto sculpture probably for an unknown altarpiece in bronze. Height 56 cm. Including a Thermoluminescence analysis report from 1999 showing 310 years (+/- 30 years) and documentation from Peter Bader Kunsthandel.
Damages, repairs.
Provenance
A Venetian noble family.
Bought from Peter Bader Kunsthandel, Luzern, 200
Literature
Avery, Charles, The Triumph of Motion: Francesco Bertos (1678-1741) and the Art of Sculpture, Catalogue Raisonné, Umberto Allemandi & Ci, 2008, the lot documented as number 18, page 273, described as " Attributed to Bertos. A group of struggling figures, with books and a discarded crown, and, standing over them, a female figure whose left arm encircles a square post, probably Faith with remains of a cross. She is accompanied by, on her right, a winged female figure with a sunburst on her chest and a laurel wreath in her left hand (Truth) and, on her left, by a female figure holding a model of a church (Religion?); on an integral base with scrollwork and a central cartouche, and candleholders in the form of gadrooned urns at the two front corners. This unpublished, seemingly unique, and fascinating work in terracotta, perhaps a finished piece in its own right and not a preparatory model, manifests a number of the hallmarks of the style of Bertos, the piling up of figures; the complex interplay of extended limbs; the blank faces with pointed noses, and any deviations from his norm might be ascribed to the difference of material from his usual ones. Nevertheless, in the absence of detailed studies on other sculptors who worked on a small scale from the same Veneto-Paduan milieu, it would be premature to attribute the piece directly to him. It remains a promising candidate."
More information
Francesco Bertos lived and died near Padua, Italy, and specialized in producing eye-catching, mythological, allegorical and religious sculpture groups. The art of Bertos is characterized by a constant search for dynamic movement, in a similar vein to contemporary paintings by Tiepolo and others, especially their tumbling groups of figures in airy trompe l'oeil ceilings. Further references to his activities in and around Venice suggest he settled there, and commissions for Marshal Schulenburg, the Basilica of the Santo Padua, and the Villa Manin at Passarino where he created 169 sculptures, indicate that his work was admired by the most discerning elevated of patrons.