Rafal Monti.The Veiled Vestal Virgin, 1847, Chatsworth House in North Derbyshire, England
We continue the topic about the masters of the marble veil. Today we will get acquainted with the works of the Italian sculptor Raphael Monti 1818-1881.
He was one of the sculptors who managed to create real masterpieces of Vestal Virgins with marble veils - priestesses greek goddess Vesta.
ABOUT THE SCULPTOR.
A native of Milan, he took his first steps under the guidance of his father, also a sculptor, Gaetano Matteo Monti, in Imperial Academy. He debuted early and won gold medal for a group called "Alexander Tames Bucephalus."
He and other young sculptors belonged to the Lombard school, which dominated Italian sculpture in the first half of the nineteenth century. He worked for some time in Vienna and Milan, made his first visit to England in 1846, but returned to Italy again in 1847 and joined the People's Party, becoming one of the main officers of the National Guard.
After the catastrophic failure of the liberation movement of 1848, he again fled from Italy to England.
His career in England was very successful and fruitful. Monty's work was exhibited at the Royal Academy, and he soon earned recognition as a leading sculptor.
His "Eve after the Fall", awarded a prize and a medal, was especially good, but two other sculptures in the exhibition, "Circassian Slave Trader" and "Vestal", the best in terms of technique, became his business card: fine processing of solid marble figures wrapped in transparent veils.
"Vestal Virgin", was acquired in 1847 by the Duke of Devonshire before the exhibition began, as well as the work "The Dream of Sorrow and the Joy of Dreams", currently located in the Victoria and Albert Museum.
The sculpture of the Vestal Virgin, which you see in the illustration, depicts the veiled priestess of Vesta - the Vestal Virgin. Vesta is the Roman guardian goddess of the sacred fire, symbolizing the center of life - the state, city, home. It was believed that in any fire there is a particle of the spirit of Vesta.
Soft flowing folds are so skillfully carved by the sculptor that they come to life in the rays of the sun, letting in light. The effect is enhanced by the contrast with the wreath of wildflowers, devoid of polish. The marble in the front part is amazingly clean, has virtually no visible defects or inclusions, revealing all its nobility and beauty.
Historical information about the VESTALS
Vestals - priestesses of the goddess Vesta in Ancient Rome who enjoyed great respect and honor. Their person was inviolable. The Vestals were freed from paternal authority and had the right to own property and dispose of it at their own discretion.
Anyone who insulted the vestal in any way, for example, by trying to slip under her stretcher, was punishable by death. A lictor walked ahead of the Vestal Virgin; under certain conditions, the Vestal Virgins had the right to ride in chariots. If they met a criminal on their way to execution, they had the right to pardon him.
The duties of the Vestals included maintaining the sacred fire in the temple of Vesta, maintaining the cleanliness of the temple, making sacrifices to Vesta and the penates, protecting the palladium and other shrines. At first there were only six of them, when a vacancy became available, they were chosen from 20 girls from 6 to 10 years of noble origin.
Newly entering the Vestal community, they were introduced first of all into the atrium of the Temple of Vesta, where her hair was cut off and hung as a donation on a sacred tree, which was already more than 500 years old in the era of Pliny the Elder. Then the young Vestal Virgin was dressed all in white, given the name “Beloved,” which was added to her name, and initiated into new duties.
The service period was 30 years, divided equally into training, direct service and training others (mentoring). After these years, the Vestal Virgin became free and could get married.
However, the latter happened extremely rarely, since there was a belief that marriage with a vestal would not lead to good, and in addition, when getting married, the former vestal lost her unique social and property status for a Roman woman and became an ordinary matron, completely dependent on her husband, which, of course, was unprofitable for her.
The Vestals were very rich, mainly due to the ownership of large estates that provided a large income, in addition to which each personally received from her family a significant sum at the initiation and received generous gifts from the emperors. In 24, when Cornelia joined the ranks of the Vestals, Tiberius gave her 2 million sesterces.
Throughout their service, the Vestal Virgins were required to maintain a chaste lifestyle; violation of it was strictly punished. It was believed that Rome could not take upon itself such a sin as the execution of a Vestal Virgin, so they were punished by burial alive (in a field located within the city limits at the Collin Gate on the Quirinal) with a small supply of food, which was not formally death penalty, and the seducer was flogged to death.
Guilty of violating her vow, the Vestal Virgin was placed on a stretcher tightly closed and tied with belts so that even her voice could not be heard, and carried through the forum.
Everyone silently made way for her and saw her off without saying a word, in deep grief. For the city there was no more terrible sight, there was no sadder day than this. When the stretcher was brought to the appointed place, the slaves untied the straps.
The high priest read a mysterious prayer, raised his hands to the sky before the execution, ordered the criminal to be brought up, with a thick veil over her face, placed on the stairs leading to the dungeon, and then left along with the other priests. When the Vestal descended, the ladder was taken away, the hole was filled with a mass of earth from above, and the place of execution became as level as the rest.
The institution of the Vestal Virgins lasted until approximately 391, when Emperor Theodosius banned public pagan worship. After this, the sacred fire was extinguished, the temple of Vesta was closed, and the institution of the Vestal Virgins was disbanded.
OTHER WORKS OF MONTY.
The Veiled Vestal Virgin, 1847, Chatsworth House in North Derbyshire, England
R. Monty.
Veiled lady.
Raffaelle Monti, The Bride, original in marble, 1847
The dream of sorrow and the joy of a dream. London 1861.
Night.1862
Circassian slave. 1851
Marble Bust of a Veiled Maiden Signed By Raffaello Monti
Parian porcelain bust "love" by Raphael Monti. Issued by the Ceramic and Crystal Palace Union of Artists, and exhibited at International exhibition in London 1872.
Test with other works
ARTICLES ABOUT OTHER MARBLE VEIL MASTERS:
Masterpieces of marble veil. Antonio Corrardini
An unsurpassed masterpiece in Cristo velato marble
He was one of the sculptors who managed to create real masterpieces of the Vestals with a marble veil - priestesses of the Greek goddess Vesta. Italian sculptor Raphael Monti 1818-1881.
R. Monty. Veiled Lady.
A native of Milan, Raphael Monti took his first steps under the guidance of his father, also a sculptor, Gaetano Matteo Monti, at the Imperial Academy. He debuted early and won a gold medal for a group called "Alexander Tames Bucephalus." Monti and other young sculptors belonged to the Lombard school, which dominated Italian sculpture in the first half of the nineteenth century. He worked for some time in Vienna and Milan, made his first visit to England in 1846, but returned to Italy again in 1847 and joined the People's Party, becoming one of the main officers of the National Guard. After the disastrous failure of the Risorgimento campaign of 1848, he again fled Italy for England. His career in England was very successful and fruitful. Monty's work was exhibited at the Royal Academy, and he soon earned recognition as a leading sculptor.
Raffaelle Monti, The Bride, original in marble, 1847
His prize- and medal-winning Eve after the Fall was particularly good, but the other two sculptures in the exhibition, the Circassian Slave Trader and the Vestal, the best in technique, became his trademark: the fine treatment of solid marble figures wrapped in transparent veils.
Vestal Virgin
"Vestal Virgin", was acquired in 1847 by the Duke of Devonshire before the exhibition began, as well as the work "The Dream of Sorrow and the Joy of Dreams", currently located in the Victoria and Albert Museum.
The dream of sorrow and the joy of a dream. London 1861.
To create the effect of a thin veil that can move with the slightest breeze requires great skill. Although the technique of veils in sculpture has been known since the time Ancient Greece, throughout history, only a few artists have managed to achieve perfection in this art. Monti was one of the sculptors who managed to make his statues seem as if they were covered with the finest fabric.
The veil ennobles, making a woman attractive and desirable, because she is inaccessible under the veil. And for centuries they have been admiring this beauty and not understanding how it was made.
The art of Raphael Monti - his marble veils make you think. It seems that two opposites - soft transparent silk and the hardest and most opaque stone - have come together in the works of a talented master...
Raffaelle Monti, The Bride, original in marble, 1847 (Bride. Original in marble, 1847
radiant_kristal wrote in May 20th, 2014
What delicate work, because the veil looks so natural that it seems that at the slightest breath the fabric will begin to move.
There were several sculptors who so masterfully conveyed the impression of the finest fabric that you are amazed - how was it done?
However... The technique of veils in sculpture has been known since the times of Ancient Greece.
Terracotta head of a woman in a veil, Cyprus, 2nd - 1st century BC.
Terracotta head of a veiled woman, 4th century BC.
Ancient Greece, 4th century BC. Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Ancient Greece, 3rd - 2nd century BC. e. Bronze.
"Christ under the Shroud"
Antonio Corradini (Antonio Corradini, September 6, 1668, Este, Padua - June 29, 1752, Naples) and Giuseppe Sanmartino (Giuseppe Sanmartino, 1720 - 1793) combines the 18th century, profession - they are both Italian sculptors, and the work "Christ under the Shroud", commissioned by Raimondo de Sangro (seventh prince of San Severo) for the San Severo Chapel in Naples .
Initially, the prince entrusted the work to Antonio Corradini, but he only managed to make a clay model (kept in the Certosa Museum of San Martino). After Corradini's death, Prince Raimondo entrusted the completion of the work to the young and unknown Neapolitan sculptor Giuseppe Sanmartino.
Sanmartino retained the main feature of the original design - the finest marble canvas.
Prince Raimondo intended to place “Christ under the Shroud” not in the chapel itself, but under it - in the crypt, where, according to the prince’s plan, the sculpture of Sanmartino was supposed to be illuminated with a special “eternal light” invented by him.
Antonio Corradini, "Sara"
Antonio Corradini
For the most part he worked for Venetian clients. His sculptures are in the squares and parks, cathedrals and museums of Este, Venice, Rome, Vienna, Gurkha, Dresden, Detroit, London, Prague, Naples, where he, commissioned by Raimondo de Sangro, worked on the decoration of the San Severo Chapel. The sculpture of Christ under the Shroud he began in the chapel (he only managed to make a clay model) was executed by the young and then unknown Neapolitan sculptor Giuseppe Sanmartino.
"Purity"
Antonio Corradini, Bust of a Veiled Woman (Puritas) 1717/ 1725 Marble Museo del Settecento Veneziano, Ca" Rezzonico, Venice
“Chastity”, Naples, San Severo Chapel.
The statue of Chastity (Pudizia) represents tombstone Cecilia Gaetani del L'Aquila d'Aragona (1690 - 1710), mother of Prince Raimondo, died shortly after giving birth.
"The Veiled Lady"
"The Veiled Girl"
Bust "The Veiled Girl"(Carrara marble) - a fragment of the famous statue “Vera” by the sculptor Antonio Corradini (1688-1752), purchased for the collection of Peter the Great in Venice by S. Raguzinsky for “100 gold ducats”. It was in the Summer Garden until the end of the 18th century, then in the St. George Hall of the Winter Palace, where it was damaged in a fire in 1837. Top part After restoration, the statue was placed by A.I. Stackenschneider in the Inner Garden of the Tsarina Pavilion in Peterhof.
Giuseppe Sammartino
Giuseppe Sanmartino."Christ under the Shroud"
Giuseppe Sammartino (1720-1793) - Italian sculptor of the Southern Italian school. Worked in Naples. In his style, the Baroque traditions were combined with the verism of Neapolitan plastic art.
The first dated work is marble sculpture"Christ under the Shroud" (1753), originally commissioned from the sculptor Antonio Corradini, in the Chapel of San Severo.
The sculpture aroused the admiration of Antonio Canova, who, according to him, would give ten years of his life to become the author of such a work. Legend has it that the real veil was petrified.
Raffaello Monti
"The dream of sorrow and the joy of dreams." Raffaello Monti, London, 1861.
"Night", 1862
"True"
"Vestal"
The veiled marble bust of the Vestal Virgin was created by the Italian sculptor Raffaello Monti (1818-1881) in 1860.
The bust is exhibited at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, and for the English estate of Chatsworth, the sculptor made the same vestal in full height.
The sculpture depicts the veiled priestess of Vesta - the Vestal Virgin. Vesta is the Roman guardian goddess of the sacred fire, symbolizing the center of life - the state, city, home. It was believed that in any fire there is a particle of the spirit of Vesta.
"Circassian Slave" (1851)
Marble Bust of a Veiled Maiden Signed By Raffaello Monti
Giovanni Strazza
"Virgin Mary" in marble performed by Giovanni Strazza (1818-1875), mid-19th century.
Sculptural bust "Woman in a hat and veil". Marble. Western Europe. Beginning of the 20th century
Museum d'Orsay in Paris
“In a transparent veil”, 20th century. Elizabeth Ackroyd. Bankfield Museum, UK.
The effect does not disappear at any angle and at any distance.
“Ondine Coming Out of the Water,” 1880. Chancey Bradley Eves. Yale University Gallery, USA.
Veiled Lady. Artist Rossi, Pietro. 1882
We continue the topic about the masters of the marble veil. Today we will get acquainted with the works of the Italian sculptor Raphael Monti 1818-1881
He was one of the sculptors who managed to create real masterpieces Vestals with a marble veil - priestesses of the Greek goddess Vesta.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
A native of Milan, he took his first steps under the guidance of his father, also a sculptor, Gaetano Matteo Monti, at the Imperial Academy. He debuted early and won a gold medal for a group called "Alexander Tames Bucephalus."
He and other young sculptors belonged to the Lombard school,, which dominated Italian sculpture in the first half of the nineteenth century. He worked for some time in Vienna and Milan, made his first visit to England in 1846, but returned to Italy again in 1847 and joined the People's Party, becoming one of the main officers of the National Guard.
After the disastrous failure of the Risorgimento campaign of 1848, he again fled Italy for England.
His career in England was very successful and fruitful.Works Monty were exhibited inRoyal Academy, and he soon earned recognition as a leading sculptor.
His prize- and medal-winning Eve after the Fall was particularly good, but the other two sculptures in the exhibition, the Circassian Slave Trader and the Vestal, the best in technique, became his trademark: the fine treatment of solid marble figures wrapped in transparent veils.
"Vestal Virgin", was acquired in 1847 by the Duke of Devonshire before the exhibition began, as well as the work "The Dream of Sorrow and the Joy of Dreams", currently located in the Victoria and Albert Museum.
A LITTLE NOTE ABOUT THE VESTALS. I thought it was interesting.
Vestals- priestesses of the goddess Vesta in Ancient Rome, who enjoyed great respect and honor. Their person was inviolable . The Vestals were freed from paternal authority and had the right to own property and dispose of it at their own discretion. Anyone who insulted the vestal in any way, for example, by trying to slip under her stretcher, was punishable by death. Ahead of the Vestals walked lictor , under certain conditions, the Vestals had the right to travel to chariots . If they met on the way someone led by execution criminal, they had the right to pardon him.
The duties of the Vestals included maintaining the sacred fire in the temple of Vesta, maintaining the cleanliness of the temple, making sacrifices to Vesta and the penates, protecting the palladium and other shrines. At first there were only six of them, when a vacancy became available, they were chosen from 20 girls from 6 to 10 years of noble origin.
New Vestal Virgins entering the community were introduced first of all to atrium of the Temple of Vesta , where her hair was cut off and hung as a donation on a sacred tree, which in the era Pliny the Elder was already more than 500 years old. Then the young Vestal Virgin was dressed all in white and given the name “Beloved.”, which was added to her nameand initiated her into new responsibilities.
The service period was 30 years, divided equally into training, direct service and training others (mentoring). After these years, the Vestal Virgin became free and could get married.
However, the latter happened extremely rarely, since there was a belief that marriage with a vestal would not lead to good, and in addition, when getting married, the former vestal lost her unique social and property status for a Roman woman and became ordinary matron , completely dependent on her husband, which, of course, was unprofitable for her.
The Vestals were very rich, mainly due to the ownership of large estates that provided a large income, in addition to which each personally received from her family a significant sum at the initiation and received generous gifts from the emperors. IN 24 years old when Cornelia joined the ranks of the Vestals, Tiberius gave her 2 million sestertii.
Throughout their service, the Vestal Virgins had to maintain chaste way of life, its violation was strictly punished. It was believed that Rome could not take upon itself such a sin as the execution of a Vestal Virgin, so they were punished burial alive (in the field , located within the city limits Collin Gate on the Quirinal ) with a small supply of food, which was not formally death penalty , and the seducer was flogged to death.
Guilty of violating her vow, the Vestal Virgin was placed on a stretcher tightly closed and tied with belts so that even her voice could not be heard, and carried through the forum.
Everyone silently made way for her and saw her off without saying a word, in deep grief. For the city there was no more terrible sight, there was no sadder day than this. When the stretcher was brought to the appointed place, the slaves untied the straps.
The high priest read a mysterious prayer, raised his hands to the sky before the execution, ordered the criminal to be brought up, with a thick veil over her face, placed on the stairs leading to the dungeon, and then left along with the other priests. When the Vestal descended, the ladder was taken away, the hole was filled with a mass of earth from above, and the place of execution became as level as the rest.
The Vestal Virgin Institute lasted until approximately 391 when the emperor Theodosius banned public pagan worship. After this, the sacred fire was extinguished, the temple of Vesta was closed, and the institution of the Vestal Virgins was disbanded.
MONTI'S MOST FAMOUS WORKS.
Vestal.1848
The sculpture depicts the veiled priestess of Vesta - the Vestal Virgin. Vesta is the Roman guardian goddess of the sacred fire, symbolizing the center of life - the state, city, home. It was believed that in any fire there is a particle of the spirit of Vesta.
M soft flowing folds are so skillfully carved by the sculptor that they come to life in the rays of the sun, letting in light. The effect is enhanced by the contrast with the wreath of wildflowers, devoid of polish. The marble in the front part is amazingly clean, has virtually no visible defects or inclusions, revealing all its nobility and beauty.
R. Monty. Veiled Lady.
The veil ennobles, making a woman attractive and desirable, because she is inaccessible under the veil. And for centuries they have been admiring this beauty and not understanding how it was made.
Raffaelle Monti, The Bride, original in marble, 1847
What delicate work, because the veil looks so natural that it seems that at the slightest breath the fabric will begin to move.
There were several sculptors who so masterfully conveyed the impression of the finest fabric that you are amazed - how was it done?
However... The technique of veils in sculpture has been known since the times of Ancient Greece.
Terracotta head of a woman in a veil, Cyprus, 2nd - 1st century BC.
Terracotta head of a veiled woman, 4th century BC.
Ancient Greece, 4th century BC. Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Ancient Greece, 3rd - 2nd century BC. e. Bronze.
"Christ under the Shroud"
Antonio Corradini (Antonio Corradini, September 6, 1668, Este, Padua - June 29, 1752, Naples) and Giuseppe Sanmartino (Giuseppe Sanmartino, 1720 - 1793) combines the 18th century, profession - they are both Italian sculptors, and the work "Christ under the Shroud", commissioned by Raimondo de Sangro (seventh prince of San Severo) for the San Severo Chapel in Naples .
Initially, the prince entrusted the work to Antonio Corradini, but he only managed to make a clay model (kept in the Certosa Museum of San Martino). After Corradini's death, Prince Raimondo entrusted the completion of the work to the young and unknown Neapolitan sculptor Giuseppe Sanmartino.
Sanmartino retained the main feature of the original design - the finest marble canvas.
Prince Raimondo intended to place “Christ under the Shroud” not in the chapel itself, but under it - in the crypt, where, according to the prince’s plan, the sculpture of Sanmartino was supposed to be illuminated with a special “eternal light” invented by him.
Antonio Corradini, "Sara"
Antonio Corradini
For the most part he worked for Venetian clients. His sculptures are in the squares and parks, cathedrals and museums of Este, Venice, Rome, Vienna, Gurkha, Dresden, Detroit, London, Prague, Naples, where he, commissioned by Raimondo de Sangro, worked on the decoration of the San Severo Chapel. The sculpture of Christ under the Shroud he began in the chapel (he only managed to make a clay model) was executed by the young and then unknown Neapolitan sculptor Giuseppe Sanmartino.
"Purity"
Antonio Corradini, Bust of a Veiled Woman (Puritas) 1717/ 1725 Marble Museo del Settecento Veneziano, Ca" Rezzonico, Venice
“Chastity”, Naples, San Severo Chapel.
The statue of Chastity (Pudizia) is a funerary monument to Cecilia Gaetani del L'Aquila d'Aragona (1690 - 1710), mother of Prince Raimondo, who died shortly after giving birth.
"The Veiled Lady"
"The Veiled Girl"
Bust "The Veiled Girl"(Carrara marble) - a fragment of the famous statue “Vera” by the sculptor Antonio Corradini (1688-1752), purchased for the collection of Peter the Great in Venice by S. Raguzinsky for “100 gold ducats”. It was in the Summer Garden until the end of the 18th century, then in the St. George Hall of the Winter Palace, where it was damaged in a fire in 1837. After restoration, the upper part of the statue was placed by A.I. Stackenschneider in the Inner Garden of the Tsarina Pavilion in Peterhof.
Giuseppe Sammartino
Giuseppe Sanmartino."Christ under the Shroud"
Giuseppe Sammartino (1720-1793) - Italian sculptor of the Southern Italian school. Worked in Naples. In his style, the Baroque traditions were combined with the verism of Neapolitan plastic art.
The first dated work is the marble sculpture "Christ under the Shroud" (1753), originally commissioned from the sculptor Antonio Corradini, in the Chapel of San Severo.
The sculpture aroused the admiration of Antonio Canova, who, according to him, would give ten years of his life to become the author of such a work. Legend has it that the real veil was petrified.
Raffaello Monti
"The dream of sorrow and the joy of dreams." Raffaello Monti, London, 1861.
"Night", 1862
"True"
"Vestal"
The veiled marble bust of the Vestal Virgin was created by the Italian sculptor Raffaello Monti (1818-1881) in 1860.
The bust is exhibited at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, and for the English estate of Chatsworth, the sculptor made the same vestal in full height.
The sculpture depicts the veiled priestess of Vesta - the Vestal Virgin. Vesta is the Roman guardian goddess of the sacred fire, symbolizing the center of life - the state, city, home. It was believed that in any fire there is a particle of the spirit of Vesta.
"Circassian Slave" (1851)
Marble Bust of a Veiled Maiden Signed By Raffaello Monti
Giovanni Strazza
"Virgin Mary" in marble by Giovanni Strazza (1818-1875), mid-19th century.
Sculptural bust "Woman in a hat and veil". Marble. Western Europe. Beginning of the 20th century
Museum d'Orsay in Paris
“In a transparent veil”, 20th century. Elizabeth Ackroyd. Bankfield Museum, UK.
The effect does not disappear at any angle and at any distance.
“Ondine Coming Out of the Water,” 1880. Chancey Bradley Eves. Yale University Gallery, USA.
Veiled Lady. Artist Rossi, Pietro. 1882