Attributed to Gaetano Gandolfi (1734-1802), Emilia-Romagna, 18th century

Probably Antonio Buratti, circa 1760;

In the 19th century, Casa Mentasti, Bologne;

Ettore Viancini, Venice;

Private collection, London;

Trinity Fine Art, London;

Sotheby's London, 9 July 2009, lot 138;

Where acquired.

Terracotta, before and after, Trinity Fine Art Ltd, London, 16 - 24 June 2005

R. Roli, "Agguinte e precisazioni sui Gandolfi plastificatori", in Il Carrobbio, 1976, Bologna, p. 319, fig. 1;

D. Biagi Maino, Gaetano Gandolfi, Turin, 1995, pp. 17 & 26, n° 45, fig. III;

Terracotta, before and after, exh. cat. Trinity Fine Art Ltd, London, 2005, pp. 24-25, n° 9.

In 1976, Roli published for the first time the allegorical figure of Temperance, then paired with the Strength (cf. op. cit. p. 319, figs. 1 and 2), both probably from a series on the cardinal virtues made in Bologna by the young Gandolfi, for the merchant Antonio Buratti. According to the author, this group dates from the early career of Gandolfi, around 1757-60, before he left his hometown for Venice. He also compared them with an Apollo and two Wind Gods, with the same provenance from the Casa Mentasti.

Our allegory of Temperance is stylistically comparable to the terracotta figure Mary Magdalene in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (inv. no. M82.212), and to that of Strength, or perhaps of the city of Bologna, in the Ashmolean Museum of Art, Oxford (inv. WA1960.30).