18 - GIORGIO DE CHIRICO (1888–1978) THE GREAT METAPHYSICIAN. Polished bronze. 100 x 45 x 34.50 cm. Title, signature, and edition number on the base; example I/VII; stamped by Fonderia Fratelli Bonvicini, Sommacampagna—mark commemorating the centennial of the artist’s birth. Dimensions without base: 94.5 x 32.5 x 24.5 cm. The work is accompanied by a copy of the certificate of authenticity issued by Claudio Bruni Sakraischik.TOTAL EDITION: 9 copies, of which 7 are numbered I through VII; 2 artist’s proofs numbered E/A I/II and E/A II/II, and one unnumbered, non-commercial proof intended for the Giorgio De Chirico Foundation. BIBLIOGRAPHY Baldacci, P. De Chirico. The Centennial Sculptures. Allemandi, 1995, no. 13. The work is based on an original plaster model from 1970 and was cast at the Bonvicini Foundry in Verona in 1988 and 1991, on the occasion of the centennial of the Master’s birth, with authorization granted by Isabella De Chirico to Lina Sotilis, dated March 27, 1987. The great metaphysician transposes into the three-dimensional form of bronze one of the most iconic and celebrated subjects in Giorgio de Chirico’s entire artistic corpus. The mannequin—an emblematic figure born in the early 1910s from an intellectual collaboration with his brother Alberto Savinio—here abandons the two-dimensionality of the canvas to become a solid and monumental presence in real space.The sculpture stands on a complex geometric structure rich in architectural references, evoking the enigmatic Italian squares typical of the Metaphysical period. The mannequin’s silhouette, devoid of facial features and reclining in a pose of absorbed and melancholic mysticism, perfectly embodies De Chirico’s archetype of the “man-automaton,” suspended between the classical past and the alienation of modernity.The bronze’s refined golden patina captures and refracts the light, highlighting the sharp contrasts between the geometric volumes of the base and the soft folds of the drapery enveloping the mannequin’s torso.