Italian school, ca. 1880

Italian school, ca. 1880.
"Female bust".
Carved white Carrara marble.
Very good general condition, with slight signs of the passage of time compatible with its age.
Measurements: 63 x 21 x 19,5 cm.

Delicate sculpture in white Carrara marble representing the bust of a young woman, carved with great technical virtuosity and naturalistic sensibility. The work shows influences of late Neoclassicism and the emerging nineteenth-century realism, where the representation of the female figure is softened with an idealized treatment of the features, without losing an attentive anatomical study.

The young woman appears with her hair gathered under a cloth or headdress, carved with refined detail, letting some locks fall, giving movement and naturalness to the composition. The face is serene, with an introspective expression that conveys a certain melancholy and purity, very much in line with the aesthetic canons of the sculptural romanticism of the late nineteenth century.

This type of busts was commonly commissioned to decorate aristocratic and bourgeois residences, functioning both as a portrait or idealized representation of femininity. The classic pedestal base, integrated into the carving, reinforces the monumental character of the piece.

The use of Carrara marble - famous for its purity, fine grain and whiteness - underlines the artistic and material quality of this work, typical of the most refined Italian workshops of the 19th century, especially in Florence, Carrara and Rome.