Not Just Lumps of Stone
#SUBHEADING#Lorenzo Bellini by Giovanni Battista Foggini#SUBHEADINGEND# 1720 in Florence this bust was created by Giovanni Battista Foggini 17 years after the subject's death. It is thought that Foggini based this bust on an earlier work he'd done of Bellini in the year of his death in 1703. This earlier bust was commissioned by a Senator Padolfini, and it was intended for Bellini's own tomb but it was never installed. Lorenzo Bellini himself was friendly with the artist Foggini and had earlier commissioned him to produce a series of busts for his home, including one of Galileo. All of these busts, and the earlier portrait of Bellini have been lost in time but this later portrait still survives here. #IMAGE# Lorenzo Bellini was a very eminent professor of anatomy at the University of Pisa. He rose even higher in status and was appointed principal physician to the Medici Court in Florence. It is appropriate then that Foggini should be commissioned to capture his likeness. Foggini was himself 'Grand Ducal Sculpor' for the Medici Court, as well as becoming court architect. He was possibly the most influential artist in Florence in his day and was almost without rival. He was born in Florence in 1652 and showed such promise as a young artist that he was sent to study in Rome for three years. Returning to Florence in 1676 he immediately began to gain commissions for the Medici court. The major artistic influence on Foggini was a sculptor called Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Bernini had been instrumental in creating the Baroque style of sculpture; using facial expressions and elaborate movements with the hair and robes of his subjects. Foggini continued this tradition well into the 18th century yet his later works apparently began to change with the fashion towards more classically influenced portraits with less movement, calmer, still poses and expressions. In this bust here the face is calm, benevolent even, and depicts the sitter as an intelligent and authoritative figure. The Baroque influence is still present, however, in the way the hair and robes are finished. #SUBHEADING#Caracalla by Giuseppe Canart#SUBHEADINGEND# Created in Naples in 1758 this bust shows the move back to the classical taste, so much so that this is a copy of an original antique bust. This is the Roman Emperor Caracalla by Giuseppe Canart. Canart worked as both a sculptor and as a restorer of antiquities during the period of the rediscovery of Herculaneum. #IMAGE# Very little is known about Canart, partly because he often worked under different names including Filippo Canarte and Josef Canard. Because of this his works are not easily identifiable. The subject of this bust, however, is very identifiable. This work is based on a very famous bust known as 'The Frowning Caracalla' which was in the Farnese collection in Rome and was sent in 1786 to Naples. This Farnese bust was considered by some scholars as being one of the last great works of art in antiquity. However, more recent opinion has suggested it might have originated later in the Renaissance. The bust was very popular in the 18th century and many copies were made, both in marble like this one, and in plaster. It was popular because of the drama and quality of the original, the way the head is aggressively turned and with a direct stare that challenges the viewer. Caracalla, his original name being Antonius Aurelius was ruthless like his father, Roman Emperor Septimus Severus. Caracalla apparently modelled himself as a self-styled successor to Alexander the Great. Ironically, it was in Alexandria where one of his most notorious actions took place. It's thought Caracalla had become the butt of some disrespectful satires while he was in the city in AD 215, and his response was devastating. He ordered a widespread massacre of the citizens of Alexandria. This was a dangerous time to be a Roman Emperor and in AD 217 Caracalla was assassinated by a member of his own bodyguard, praetorian prefect Macrinus. Macrinus seized power but was killed himself the following year. This is an exotic and foreign character to find in a corner of an art gallery in Hull but not quite as foreign as you may think. When Septimus Severus came to Britain, expelling Germanic and Gaulish raiders and focusing his attentions on Scotland, he was accompanied by his two sons, Caracalla and Geta. When Severus died of pneumonia it was just down the road in York. And so it was not far from here that power fell into the grasp of this ruthless character. You would be forgiven for thinking that these two busts are not related in any way: an earlier Baroque bust of an educated and civilised man and a later, classical styled copy bust of a murderous Emperor who killed his own brother. Well, they are interesting in that they show the subtle transition of tastes and practice in 18th century sculpture but they are more definitely linked in that they both belonged to the same man, Thomas Ferens. When Ferens bought Holderness House for his home in 1909, he also bought these busts and eventually bequeathed in 1930 to the art gallery that bore his name.
