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DG09668

Charlemagne by Agostino Cornacchini, 1721.

Agostino Cornacchini's equestrian statue of Charlemagne, at St Peter's, oval cast Bronze Plaquette by Agostino Cornacchini, 1721, the statue in situ, rev. CVRANTE LVD SERGARDO - PATRITIO SENEX - V. S. REP - ET - R. FAB . S. PETRI - AECON . GENERALI, 115 x 94mm (Bargello, Inv. 598b; Warren 2014, Cat. no. 435). An original cast, well-detailed and almost extremely fine, very rare.

Agostino Cornacchini (1686 - 1754), Italian sculptor and painter of the Rococo period. His statue of Charlemagne, at the base of the Scala Regia in the entrance to the Vatican Palace, is considered his masterpiece.

For a detailed discussion of this plaquette, and its attribution to Cornacchini himself, see Warren, J. Medieval and Renaissance Sculpture: A Catalogue of the Collection in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford , 2014, at pages 963-964. Warren supports the attribution, and date, by referencing a letter from Ludovico Segardi to Cornacchini, in 1721. Segardi, in the role of general superintendent of the fabric of St Peter's, was responsible for the installation of the equestrian statue, a project commissioned by Pope Clement XI to mark closer diplomatic relations between the Vatican and France. Warren suggests the reverse inscription could imply that Segardi was personally responsible for the commission of the plaquette which was presumably intended to promote then commemorate the statue itself. Perhaps the plaquettes would have been given to French diplomats. Warren suggests that slight differences between the statue and the plaquette exist because both were based on a prototype plaster model described by Richard Rawlinson in his Travel Journal for 11 June 1721.

Fewer than 10 examples of the plaquette may exist.

Other sculptures by Cornacchini include Hope (1725-26) in the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran, Rome, and The Guardian Angel (1729) in Orvieto Cathedral.

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