Micheli Brothers

MICHELI BROTHERS; FRANCESCO MICHELI (1846-1918) and GIUSEPPE MICHELI (1843-1918).
"Diana of Versailles", Berlin.
Marble.
Signed and located.
Measurements: 77 x 50 x 30 cm.

Gebrüder Micheli was the collective name for the sculptor brothers Francesco and Giuseppe Micheli, who developed an important career in Berlin in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, noted for their works in marble and bronze in neo-Baroque and neo-Renaissance style. They were trained at the Academy of Fine Arts in Carrara, which gave them a solid grounding in classical sculpture. They moved to Berlin in the 1870s, at a time when the German capital was experiencing a boom in monumental construction and embellishment, which offered many opportunities for sculptors. They participated in the decoration of the Reichstag (German Parliament), where their works can be seen on the exterior of the building.

The Micheli brothers faithfully reproduce in this marble bust the Roman model of Diana, a copy of the Greek original representing the Greek goddess of hunting Artemis. The Roman copy, known as Diana the Huntress or Diana with doe, is kept in the Louvre Museum in Paris. The bust shown here focuses on the beautiful face and on the folds of the peplum that drape around the turgid breasts, as well as on the headdress with diadem and the waves of the hair gathered in a bun. The copy in the art gallery shows the goddess full-length, in movement, with her left hand resting on the antlers of a small deer and her right hand on her quiver. The authorship of the original statue was long attributed to Leocares, although Praxiteles has also been proposed as the author of the Greek bronze.
ra.