Giuseppe Lazzerini

GIUSEPPE LAZZERINI (Italy, 1831-1895).
"Pales, goddess of cattle", ca. 1860.
Carrara marble.
Signed at the bottom.
Measurements: 113 x 90 x 68 cm (natural size).
The delicate workmanship and classicist inspiration of this sculptural group were characteristic attributes of the plastic work of the sculptor Giuseppe Lazzerini. The Roman divinity of the countryside, Pales, is shown as a beautiful young woman with curly hair adorned with a floral garland, feeding a small sheep with lettuce leaves. Pales was the protector of the land and livestock, and although in texts she was often described as a male god, artists have usually depicted her as a woman. In the present sculpture, she is characterized as a simple girl rather than as an imposing goddess. Her body forms are harmonious, with small, turgid breasts, soft curves and gracefully arched torso. A draped cloth covers her pubis.
Born in Carrara, Lazzerini studied at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Carrara from 1848 under the tutelage of Ferdinando Pellicias. In 1852 he won 2nd prize for a relief entitled "Achille che trascina il corpo di Patroclo". In 1853, after obtaining a scholarship for his bas-relief entitled "Patrocloche uccide Sarpedonte", he left Carrara to work in Rome with Pietro Tenerani. In 1856 he finished his work "La Fanciulla che intreccia", which is in the Accademia di Carrara. Lazzerini then began working in his brother-in-law's workshop. They produced public monuments, statues, portrait busts and decorative works. Lazzerini was director of the Carrara Academy from 1889 to 1893, later becoming an honorary professor. Lazzerini produced a plaster figure similar to the one in this sale, depicting a classical woman, although in this case the figure is seated and holding a garland of flowers, now in the Accademia di Belle Arti in Carrara, entitled "Fanciulla che intreccia una ghirlanda" (p. 110 fig 467, Panzetta).