Invidia or envy devouring its own heart - Lot 22

Invidia or envy devouring its own heart Polychrome wood sculpture Mid-sixteenth-century Spanish school in the circle of Alonso Berruguete (Paredes de Nava 1489-Tolède 1561) H. 113 cm - W. 48 cm - D. 27 cm Provenance: Former - Former Arthur Sambon collection (by tradition) Sale Monaco Mes Ader, Picard, Tajan December 11, 1982, lot n°32 - Laurent Horny Collection (1922-2000) sa vente Paris Me Boisgirard, December 10, 2018, lot no. 95. Invidia, Roman goddess of envy and jealousy, became one of the seven deadly sins of Christianity. It appeared in iconography as early as the Gothic period, and lasted until the Baroque period, particularly in southern Europe. Here, envy is embodied in a shaggy, emaciated, partially nude female figure with a convulsed body, devouring her own heart in her torment. The figure's body and face, distorted by inner suffering, inevitably evoke the works of Spanish master Alonso Berruguete, who, during his stay in Italy, was struck by the ancient group of Laocoon and his sons discovered in Rome in 1506, leading him to introduce Hellenistic "pathos" into Spanish sculpture.