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Yet another splendid restoration Repentance renewed in Boboli
[Susan Glasspool]
You will certainly be visiting the Pitti Palace and the beautiful Boboli Gardens behind it while you are staying here. You can hardly help noticing the many statues decorating various parts of the gardens and walkways. Many of them are Roman copies of Greek statues, collected by the Grand Dukes, others date from the creation of the gardens themselves. Obviously the job of maintaining and restoring them is unending (and highly expensive), so it becomes an event when one of them is finally returned to ts original site. The restoration of the marble statue of the Repentance was financed by Classico Italia, a leader in the world of international haute couture for men, and thus confirms its aims of uniting culture and fashion. It was presented during the Pitti Uomo Fashion shows, where the Classico Italia group was of course present. This is the first time the fashion house has sponsored a restoration of this type as on other occasions it has preferred to promote contemporary art events. The restoration itself was carried out by Ires under the direction of the Board of Museums.
Carried out by Bartolomeo Rossi in 1629, this ancient marble statue portrays a female figure, with a rather long neck, who is seated in a harmonious postion, while twisting slightly towards the left. It has been placed at the entrance to the Boboli Gardens.
The artist was born in 1604 and from early childhood worked in the "bottega" or workshop of Romolo Ferrucci del Tadda, who was an expert garden sculptor, specialising in grottesque figures and animals, with numerous clients in Europe. Rossi continued working here with Andrea Ferrucci after Romolo's death.
He won various commissions for the Boboli Gardens, but this particular statue, originally one of a pair, Desire and Repentance, was perhaps his great chance of success. Desire was carried out by Giovan Battista Pieratti. Rossi had little classical material to work from as far as the subject was concerned and therefore probably based his model on an antique statue, whose restoration by Pieratti, had transformed into a Bathing Venus.
The beautifully restored Repentance has thus at last returned to its former home. Our thanks to Classico Italia!
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