Francesco Bertos Bearded Man with a Putto
Francesco Bertos
1678 - 1741
Italian, Venice, first half of the 18th century
Bearded Man with a Putto
marble
65cm., 25⅝in.
Catalogue Note:
Emblematic of Bertos’s complex subject matter, this standing nude man, stroking the long locks of his beard with his left hand while a putto weeps at his side, does not appear to correspond to any identifiable figure from mythology or Ancient history. Equally mysterious is the object he holds in his right hand, perhaps stones or apples wrapped in a cloth. His long beard might nevertheless identify him as Neptune. Alternatively, he could represent Deucalion, son of Prometheus and husband of Pyrrha, with whom he repopulated the Earth after the Flood sent by Zeus by casting stones that were transformed into men and women.
The proportions of his body, at once graceful and athletic, with legs disproportionately elongated in relation to the torso, echo the almost uncanny figures of another Venetian sculptor, the ivory carver Antonio Leoni (active in Düsseldorf, c. 1704-1716).
Provenance:
Private collection, the Netherlands;
With Daniel Katz Gallery, London;
From whom acquired, private collection, London.
Literature:
C. Avery, The Triumph of Motion. Francesco Bertos (1678-1741) and the Art of Sculpture. Catalogue Raisonné, Turin, 2008, p. 170, pl. 32, no. 25;
F. Mazzocca, M. De Vicenti, Francesco Bertos e la Caduta degli angeli ribelli, exh. cat. Gallerie d’Italia, Vicenza, 2024, pp. 108-109, cat. 77 / III.5.
Francesco Bertos
1678 - 1741
Italian, Venice, first half of the 18th century
Bearded Man with a Putto
marble
65cm., 25⅝in.
Catalogue Note:
Emblematic of Bertos’s complex subject matter, this standing nude man, stroking the long locks of his beard with his left hand while a putto weeps at his side, does not appear to correspond to any identifiable figure from mythology or Ancient history. Equally mysterious is the object he holds in his right hand, perhaps stones or apples wrapped in a cloth. His long beard might nevertheless identify him as Neptune. Alternatively, he could represent Deucalion, son of Prometheus and husband of Pyrrha, with whom he repopulated the Earth after the Flood sent by Zeus by casting stones that were transformed into men and women.
The proportions of his body, at once graceful and athletic, with legs disproportionately elongated in relation to the torso, echo the almost uncanny figures of another Venetian sculptor, the ivory carver Antonio Leoni (active in Düsseldorf, c. 1704-1716).
Provenance:
Private collection, the Netherlands;
With Daniel Katz Gallery, London;
From whom acquired, private collection, London.
Literature:
C. Avery, The Triumph of Motion. Francesco Bertos (1678-1741) and the Art of Sculpture. Catalogue Raisonné, Turin, 2008, p. 170, pl. 32, no. 25;
F. Mazzocca, M. De Vicenti, Francesco Bertos e la Caduta degli angeli ribelli, exh. cat. Gallerie d’Italia, Vicenza, 2024, pp. 108-109, cat. 77 / III.5.
