An allegory of Justice (?) carved in the round from Carrara - Lot 31

An allegory of Justice (?) carved in the round from Carrara marble, originally part of a funerary monument; the back was once hollowed out and has since been closed up. Standing, her head imperceptibly turned to her right, her right leg slightly bent, she holds a sphere in her left hand, her right hand having lost its attribute; she is dressed in a gown, cinched at the high waist by a delicately knotted belt, and a cloak draped over one shoulder, with one end falling across the front; an oval face with full cheeks, slightly protruding eyes with fringed upper eyelids, a pointed nose, a small mouth, and a heavy neck; it is framed by long, wavy locks resting on the shoulders of the hair, which is held in place by a headband; the forehead is adorned with a small, twisted curl in high relief; harmonious pleating fanning out around the waist, in numerous waves hugging the right leg, in two falls with zigzag edges under the left arm; circular base. Naples, attributed to Jacopo della Pila da Milano (active in Naples, 1471–1502), circa 1473/1481 H. 103 cm (weathering, minor damage, repairs where the former attribute held by the right hand was located, back closed) This sculpture was part of a group, likely consisting of three Virtues, that belonged to an Aragonese tomb in Naples or the surrounding region, created around 1470/1480. Many funerary monuments in this city indeed followed a typology frequently repeated during the second half of the 15th century: a sarcophagus supported by caryatids representing the cardinal or theological virtues. The Lombard-born sculptor Jacopo della Pila created several such works, including that of Diego Cavaniglia, Count of Montella and condottiero who died in 1481, now preserved in the Convent of San Francesco a Folloni (fig. a). This monument is set within an architectural niche inspired by Roman antiquity, featuring fluted columns and a semicircular arch, with the sarcophagus supported by the virtues of Prudence, Justice, and Temperance. A number of these tombs commissioned by Aragonese nobles were dismantled in the 17th and 18th centuries, which explains why statues from them sometimes appear on the art market. This is the case for two of them, a Prudence and a Temperance, measuring 108 and 107 cm respectively, which reappeared in 2008 at a Florentine antique dealer’s and were acquired two years later by the Italian government for the San Martino Museum in Naples (inv. 30356 and 30357, figs. b and c). They are believed to have come from a lost funerary monument, also built by della Pila, which Professor Riccardo Naldi has identified as the tomb of Giovanni Cavaniglia, Diego’s older brother, who died before him in 1473. It was dismantled toward the end of the 17th century, and its elements were reused in 1738 in the so-called Cloister of the Columns at the Olivetan monastery in Naples, where architects incorporated them into a spire erected in honor of the Virgin Mary. Three Virtues from Giovanni Cavaniglia’s tomb were reused there with modifications to their attributes. The two sculptures in the San Martino Museum confirm these transformations: Prudence has lost her serpent, and Temperance has become Faith holding a chalice. It would thus be tempting to complete this group with this Justice, whose sword has been carefully erased. This is the thesis of two leading Italian art historians: Alfredo Bellandi, former curator of the Uffizi exhibition on 15th-century polychrome wood sculpture in Florence, in an expert report dated 2016, and Francesco Caglioti, professor at the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, in an expert report from 2017. The erosion visible on these three sculptures, attributable to their exposure to the elements for over two centuries, supports this hypothesis. There are, however, other tombs from which this Justice could have originated, as evidenced by several sculptures of a similar style found here and there: a Temperance that entered the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1907 (inv. 07.120.13, fig. d), or another Justice, this one having retained its sword, offered by a London gallery. The expert reports by Alfredo Bellandi dated October 6, 2016, and by Francesco Caglioti dated February 11, 2017, may be provided to the purchaser.