ITALIE DU NORD, PREMIÈRE MOITIÉ DU XVIIE SIÈCLE
Cristo Vivo
figure en bronze patiné et bronze doré, sur un socle moderne en métal
H. Christ : 32 cm (12⁵⁄₈ in.), H. totale : 33 cm (13 in.)

A PATINATED AND GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF CRISTO VIVO, ITALIAN, FIRST HALF 17TH CENTURY

The treatment of the face and body of this Cristo Vivo, together with the quality of its chasing and patina, suggests the work of an Italian artist, and more specifically a Florentine sculptor of the first half of the seventeenth century. The Christ formerly in the Carlo De Carlo collection in Florence, presented at the 2026 edition of the TEFAF, is the closest comparable example currently recorded. It shares similar dimensions and the same physical characteristics, including a slight contrapposto, a triangular bearded face, and slender musculature. Gilding is employed in the same manner for the crown of thorns and the perizoma, with its finely chased fringes. It is signed with the letters V and P flanking a cross (“.V†P.”) on the reverse of the perizoma and is attributed to an Italo-Flemish sculptor of the first quarter of the seventeenth century.