A Mid 18th Century Marble Bust.
At the Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight.
What might be described as a very fine late Baroque marble portrait bust.
Probably Italian.
Exceptional quality.
The socle/base is almost certainly a replacement.
The representation of the texture on the sleeve and the shirt collar are particularly notable,
but who does it represent? and who sculpted it?
Is this a bust by Giovanni Antonio Cybei (1706 - 1784)?
This post and my previous post was also, was in part, prompted by my attendance to the conference at the Victoria and Albert Museum - Academy, Market, Industry: Sculpture between Britain and Italy. 16 /17 May 2025 - Hosted by Kira d'Alberquerque and Malcolm Baker.
Sometimes there is a peculiar serendipity to my researches - some years ago I had visited the Lady Lever Art Gallery at Port Sunlight in order to inspect and photograph an anonymous bust by Peter Scheemakers and a very poor bust of Oliver Cromwell supposedly sculpted by, but definitely not Roubiliac.
Whilst revisiting the files I alighted upon the photographs of the bust below this, followed my reviewing photographs of the sculpture at the Fitzwilliam Cambridge and my rediscovery of the photographs of Edward Chapman Bird and his brother Christopher almost certainly carved by Giovanni Antonio Cybei (1706 - 1784).
For the busts of the Chapman Bird Brothers marble merchants of Millbank see - see my previous post.
https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2025/07/edward-chapman-bird-1715-92-marble.html
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Portrait of Peter Leopold of Habsburg-Lorraine, Grand Duke of Tuscany.
Giovanni Antonio Cybei (1706 - 1784).
Marble Bust.
1771.
In the National Museum of the Royal Palace, Pisa, Regional Directorate of Museums of Tuscany.
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Edward Chapman Bird.
by Giovanni Antonio Cybei (1706 - 1784).
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I post the images below because it could be suggested that the bust at the Lady Lever Art Gallery might be ascribed to Pelliccia, but if the bust below is representative of the quality of his work I would suggest that the sculptures of Cybei have the edge in quality particularly in his representation of the fabrics and hair.
This is particularly noticeable on the sleeve of the bust illustrated above of the Grand Duke.
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The Portrait bust of Granduca Pietro Leopoldo I di Toscana.
Domenico Andrea Pelliccia (1736 - 1821).
Marble h. 80 x 65 cm.
With Dealer Walter Padovani of Milan, Italy.
https://www.walterpadovani.com/it/
Provenance.
Sotheby’s, “Collection Violette De Talleyrand, Duchesse De
Sagan, Former Collection Gaston Palewski”, 18 marzo 2010, Parigi, lotto36;
Collezione privata, USA.
Bibliography
A. Fusani, “Pietro Leopoldo I Granduca di Toscana. Un
ritratto inedito. Domenico Andrea Pelliccia (1736 - 1821)”, Walter Padovani,
Milano 2024.
For a very good in detail survey of this work and its creator see -
https://www.walterpadovani.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Pietro_Leopoldo_I_ITA_ENG.pdf
The images below from the excellent website of Walter Padovani.
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Of tangential interest.
