Pair of busts; Spanish or French school, c. 1720-1730.

Pair of busts; Spanish or French school, c. 1720-1730.
Carved marble.
They show faults, wear and restorations.
Measurements: 108 x 78 x 35 cm; 103 x 79 x 40 cm.
Pair of busts made in carved marble representing a woman and a man, both in their youth. The pieces have an evident classical inspiration in their conception. This statement is evidenced by the play of folds that present the two sculptures and due to the use of a refined technique, where the forms follow a classic canon of balanced anatomy that conveys an immutable beauty. Thus responding to a concept of aesthetic serenity typical of the classicism of the Italian school. However, in both cases the protagonists abandon the strict frontality, a feature that was common in the statuary of classical antiquity. This type of sculptures became popular during the eighteenth century, not only because of the aesthetic interest based on archaeological discoveries, which revealed many of the artistic works of the past, but also because of the notoriety that neoclassicism brought to the portrait as a genre, giving rise to the creation of this type of works or pantheons of illustrious men.

As in the rest of Europe, portraiture became in the 17th century the protagonist genre par excellence, as a consequence of the new social structures that were established in the Western world throughout this century, embodying the maximum expression of the transformation of taste and mentality of the new clientele, which emerged among the nobility and the wealthy upper middle class, who would take the reins of history in this period. While official circles gave preponderance to other artistic genres, such as history painting, and the incipient collectors encouraged the profusion of costume paintings, portraiture monopolized the demand for the more private sphere, as a reflection of the value of the individual in the new society. This genre embodies the permanent presence of the image of its protagonists.