Attributed Giovanni Zanobio Weber (active in Florence from 1737 to 1806), Italian, late 18th century, after the Antique

Sotheby's London, 10 December 2004, lot 89;

Where acquired.

This series of busts after the Antique depicts eleven of the twelve first Roman emperors, namely Julius Caesar, Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero, Galba, Otho, Vitellius, Vespasian, Titus and Domitian, whose lives were recounted by Suetonius circa 120 AD. While the bust of Vespasian is missing, and that of Nero is also designated as being that of Claudius, the bust of Trajan has been added to the list of twelve.

The letter F, engraved after the letter W on ten of the busts and the letter V on the last on (Titus), must certainly be understood as Fecit. References to Italian sculptors whose names begin with "W" are extremely rare, unlike in Northern Europe. However, it is likely that these small busts were cast by one of the members of the Weber family, most probably by Giovanni Zanobio Weber. Documented in Florence from 1737 to 1806, he was the nephew of Lorenzo Maria Weber, himself a pupil of Soldani Benzi. We know very little about Giovanni Zanobio, who worked for the Doccia factory and made a name for himself as a medallist. It should also be noted that Giovanni Zanobio's medals are indistinctly monogrammed IW or VF. Furthermore, according to Pratesi, a bronze statuette of Saint Peter, signed by him, is in the Vatican Basilica (op. cit. p. 64).

RELATED LITERATURE

G. Pratesi, Repertorio della sculptura fiorentina del seicento e settecento, vol. I, Turin, 1993, p. 64.