Although his name is chiselled on the reverse, this bust is not in the style of Alessandro Vittoria, the leading sculptor working in Venice in the second half of the sixteenth century; nor has a Leonardo Rinaldi been identified among Venetian noblemen of that period.

The marble, of which there is also a version in bronze, had therefore been dismissed as a fake probably of the late nineteenth century. However, it is of very high quality and may well be old (perhaps made in Rome in about1620) but given a spurious inscription to help sell it.

Provenance

W P Gibson; Christie's


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