NICCOLÓ DI ROCCATAGLIATA, workshop of
Genoa, 1560 – Venice, 1636
Pair of cherubs
bronze, marble base, cm 37,5×21
The two cherubs are shown standing, grasping the arrows of Love in their hands. Their wavy hair swept backwards and their movements not yet stiffened in an academic classicism make this pair of small bronzes a reflection of the sinuous, painterly manner of Niccolò Roccatagliata, who was born in Genoa, but lived and worked in Venice. This artist was one of the greatest interpreters of Venetian classicism between the end of the 16th century and the beginning of the following century. Indeed, he worked with Girolamo Campagna and above all with Alessandro Vittoria, from whom he inherited the grandiose style that can well be described as Michelangelesque.
A putto similar to ours, identified as a cupid and attributed to Niccolò di Roccatagliata, has been identified in the Siviero collection in Florence. The rather striking resemblance to that sculpture and the slight variations, such as the position of the head and the fact that the two cherubs hold a thunderbolt, suggest that they are all examples from the same workshop.
