Antonio Frilli

ANTONIO FRILLI (Florence, 1830-1902).
"Child playing the lute".
Alabaster.
Signed on the back.
Measurements: 41 x 40 cm.

Bust realized in alabaster that represents a child in serene and joyful attitude, captured at the moment of playing the instrument. The soft smile and the delicate expression of the face transmit a sensation of spontaneity and infantile grace.
The work responds to the idealized realism characteristic of 19th century Italian sculpture, where anatomical precision is combined with a refined treatment of the surfaces. Frilli demonstrates a remarkable technical virtuosity, especially in the modeling of the face and in the meticulousness of the instrument,
Antonio Frilli was a Florentine sculptor who specialized in marble and alabaster statues. In 1883, Frilli established his first workshop in via dei Fossi, Florence, where he worked with a few assistants on refined medium-sized painted alabaster and large white Carrara marble statues for private villas and monumental cemeteries. His works decorate famous cemeteries such as Porte Sante and Allori in Florence. After his death, a marble portrait of Frilli was carved in his workshop and placed on his family tomb in the Cimitero degli Allori. Frilli and his gallery were well known in Europe, the United States and Australia, as he participated in several world's fair exhibitions. He was in Philadelphia for the Centennial Exposition of 1876, and in 1881 his statues and garden furniture were exhibited at the Italian Pavilion in Melbourne, Australia. In 1904, two years after Frilli's death, his son Umberto participated in the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis (Missouri).