PIETRO BAZZANTI (Italy, 1825 - 1895). "Bust of Diana of Versailles", Florence. White marble. Signed and located on the reverse. It presents some dirt and very slight damage. Measurements: 93 x 55 x 30 cm. The one we now present is the bust corresponding to the Diana of Versailles, also known as Diana the Huntress or Diana with the doe, a marble statue of the Greek goddess Artemis today housed in the Louvre Museum in Paris. While Pietro Bazzanti focuses on the beautiful face and delicate bust of the young woman, the sculpture in the Louvre depicts the goddess full-length, in movement, with her left hand resting on the antlers of a small stag and her right hand on her quiver. The one in the Louvre, and consequently the one we are bidding for, are Roman copies belonging to the 1st or 2nd century of a Greek original in bronze that was lost. Their authorship has long been attributed to Leocares, although Praxiteles has also been proposed as the author of the Greek bronze. Pietro Bazzanti was the leading representative of Florentine sculpture at the end of the 19th century. From a family of sculptors, whose workshop dates from 1822 and is still active today, Bazzanti specialised in allegorical and genre subjects, and also made copies of ancient and Renaissance sculptures. Recognised as one of the finest sculptors of his time, his studio in Florence became a meeting place for other leading sculptors of the period such as Ferdinando Vichi, Cesare Lapini and Guglielmo Pugi. Today Pietro Bazzanti is represented in numerous private collections in Europe and America.