10 - 19th-century AUSTRIAN or GERMAN school, after Lorenzo MATTIELLI (1687–1748)

19th-century AUSTRIAN or GERMAN school, after Lorenzo MATTIELLI (1687–1748) The Abduction of Proserpine Carved ivory group. Bears the initials “GJ” and an apocryphal signature “Lor. Mattinelly” engraved on the front of the terrace Height of the group: 26 cm on a blackened wooden base decorated with scrollwork, two openwork scenes—one depicting the abduction and the other the dog Cerberus—on the two main sides, and coats of arms on the sides (total height: 41 cm) Minor damage to Proserpina’s hair Provenance: - Parisian collection, an apartment decorated by Alberto Pinto Reference work: - Lorenzo Mattielli, Pluto and Proserpina, c. 1720, monumental sandstone group, Vienna, Schwarzenberg Palace Park. Related literature: - Roberto Pancheri, “L’honor d’Ausonia.” Studies on the Work of Lorenzo Mattielli in Vienna and the Habsburg Domains, Proceedings of the Study Day (Venice, November 30, 2001), Venice, Estratto, 2002, original sculpture reproduced in ill. 11, p. 439; - Ingeborg Schemper Sparlholz, “Style or Mode: Lorenzo Mattielli and the Problem of Stylistic Variations in Late Baroque Sculpture in Vienna,” in Pygmalion’s Enlightenment. European Sculpture in the 18th Century, Roland Kanz and Hans Körner, Deutscher Kunstverlag München Berlin, pp. 113–131; -Edited by Barbara Balážová (ed.), Generations—Interpretations—Confrontations, Ingeborg Schemper Sparlholz, In Honor of the Queen of Hungary — An Unrealized Project for a Table Centerpiece by Lorenzo Mattielli, Bratislava, 2007, pp. 297–308; - Philippe Malgouyres, “Ivory of the Renaissance and Modern Times. The Louvre Museum Collection, Paris, Gourcuff Gradinego / Louvre Editions, 2010, entry 116, p. 168; - Edited by Maraike Bückling and Sabine Haag, Ivory. Baroque Splendor at the Viennese Court, exhibition held in Frankfurt am Main from February 3 to June 21, 2011, LiebigHaus Sculpture Collection, 2011; -Mateusz Mayer, The Sculptor Lorenzo Mattielli. Academic Colloquium, University of Vienna, Institute of Art History (March 18–20, 2011). In: Frühneuzeit Info, vol. 22 (Vienna 2011), pp. 233–237; -Marjorie Trusted, Baroque and Later Ivories, London, V&A Publishing, 2013; -Marjorie Trusted, Baroque Sculpture in Germany and Central Europe, 1600–1770, London, Harvey Miller Publishers, 2022. The attention to anatomy, the swirling drapery, and the dramatic facial expressions in this ivory sculpture group depicting the abduction of Proserpine by Pluto attest to its direct inspiration from a Baroque model. The work is a smaller-scale version of a monumental stone group created to adorn the grounds of Schwarzenberg Palace in Vienna by one of the most important artists of the late Baroque period in Austria and Germany, Lorenzo Mattielli. Born in Vicenza in 1687 and trained in the workshop of the Marinali brothers, this sculptor enjoyed a distinguished career, first in Vienna beginning in 1712, where he worked as the official sculptor for Emperor Charles VI, and then in Dresden starting in 1738, where he became court sculptor to Frederick Augustus II, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland. During his stay in Vienna, he fulfilled a commission from Prince Karl Philipp Schwarzenberg for his “LandPalais” located in Vienna-Beduzzi. His works, created between 1719 and 1724, adorned the garden-facing façade and the parterre. “The Abduction of Proserpina” is part of this park’s decorative ensemble, which comprises six stone groups dedicated to the mythological theme of “the abduction,” whose style, characterized by great theatrical expressiveness and refinement, earned the admiration of his contemporaries from the very moment of their creation. Unlike some of the most famous sculptors working in the German-speaking world during the Baroque period, such as Jakob Auer (1645–1706) or Balthasar Permoser (1651–1731), Lorenzo Mattielli is not known for having created small-scale works in ivory, and although he did design models for porcelain figurines (see Ingeborg Schemper Sparlholz). The ivory group is mounted on a precious wooden base adorned with decorative ivory scrollwork and two openwork scenes, one depicting an abduction and the other, the dog Cerberus. These motifs strictly replicate the decoration on the pedestal of the monumental statue at Schwarzenberg Castle. The care taken in the execution of the group and its base suggests that it was the subject of a special commission that likely originally included the six abduction groups modeled after the series created by Lorenzo Mattielli. Although this small ivory group displays the virtuosic and expressive style reminiscent of the works of the greatest ivory carvers active in the Germanic world of the early t