Lorenzo Bozzi

LORENZO BOZZI (San Lorenzo Maggiore1874-?).
Goldscheider Manufactory.
"The Slave Girl".
Terracotta.
Signed.
Measurements: 148 x 55 x 50 cm.
Exhibitions: "The European sculpture of the twentieth century", European Museum of Modern Art (MEAM), Barcelona, 2014.

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the theme of the "slave" or "captive" was a recurring motif that allowed sculptors to explore the female nude under a narrative and exotic justification. The figure presents a pronounced arch (élan), with arms raised and tied to the trunk of a tree. This position emphasizes the vulnerability and tension of the female anatomy, extending the lines of the body upwards. Bozzi achieves astonishing virtuosity in contrasting the woman's smooth, polished skin with the rough, gnarled, deeply detailed surface of the tree's wood. The face, tilted back and with closed or half-open eyes, suggests a mixture of weariness, abandonment and a melancholic beauty typical of Italian symbolism.