18th century, Personification of Day, Alabaster

18th century Personification of Day Alabaster, cm 11.5 x 17.5 x 5 With base cm 14.5 x 20.8 x 11.7 The Day is a marble sculpture (160x150 cm) that Michelangelo created between 1526 and 1531 in the New Sacristy in San Lorenzo in Florence. In particular, it is one of the four allegories of the Parts of the Day, and is located on the right on the sarcophagus of the tomb of Giuliano de' Medici, Duke of Nemours. Giuliano de' Medici, Duke of Nemours, the first member of the Medici family to obtain a noble title, died in 1516 at the age of thirty-seven. Three years later, his nephew, the coeval Lorenzo, Duke of Urbino, also died, extinguishing the legitimate lines of descent of the main branch of the family, to the great dismay of Pope Leo X (né Giovanni de' Medici, brother and uncle of the two dukes, respectively), who had spent so much for the rise of his family. In these circumstances, the decision was made to entrust Michelangelo with the construction of a princely tomb for the two deceased scions, to be placed in the family church, San Lorenzo in Florence, which later took the name of New Sacristy. Having decided to make an environment twin to the older Old Sacristy of Brunelleschi, it was decided to bury in this new monumental sacellum also the two "Magnifici", Lorenzo (d. 1492) and Giuliano (d. 1478), respectively father and uncle of the Pope. The redesign of the New Sacristy began around 1519, and work began in 1521. After the interruption due to the death of the Pope, they resumed in 1524, when the artist, for the new Medici pontiff Clement VII, definitively established the architectural structure of the complex. The models for the tombs of the two "dukes" were prepared that year. The work was prolonged and Michelangelo arrived at a solution with fewer statues than planned: only three instead of five or seven. The Day was probably begun in 1526, when the tomb of Lorenzo was being finished and that of Giuliano started. The statue had to be completed after work resumed following the forced pause of the siege of Florence and its consequences, being left in a state of conspicuous "non-finito" upon the artist's departure for Rome in 1534. The Day is represented as a male personification, half-lying and naked, like the other statues in the series. It was modeled, perhaps, on the fluvial divinities of the Arch of Septimius Severus, the Belvedere Torso of which it took up the powerful anatomical structure in tension. He also resumed the pose of the Child in the youthful Madonna della Scala and that of one of the bronze nudes in the vault of the Sistine Chapel. It is the only one, among the series of allegories, to turn its back to the viewer, in a pose opposite to that of the nearby Night. The left elbow is bent in support, while the right arm stretches back to seek something: only the forearm is actually sculpted, the hand instead is lost in the un-sculpted part. The legs are crossed in the opposite direction to the rotation of the bust and this torsion is also highlighted by the rotation of the head towards the viewer. The bearded face, barely sketched, shows only a mysterious, highly evocative and emblematic expression precisely because of its incompleteness. The work has received numerous interpretations: political symbol of rebellion from slavery, or autobiographical theme of the impulse towards freedom; symbol of Christian light or personification of life; allegory of fire or of the choleric temperament; personification of action, pain, anger, contempt or revenge. The work under examination is taken from the famous Michelangelo statue and is placed between the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century in the height of the Grand Tour period during which the noble scions went to Italy to explore its beauties and build collections, such as those of the famous Charles Townley (1737-1805), who came to Italy four times, accumulated an incredible amount of classical works including vases, bronzes and coins, to which was added a vast library with manuscripts and prints. The artist traces the features of the statue without that sense of non-finto that pervades Michelangelo's work, and fixes the plastic tension in a noble material such as alabaster, which gives the specimen high quality and preciousness. With Ars Antiqua it is possible to spread all amounts up to € 7,500 at ZERO RATE, for a total of 15 INSTALLMENTS. Ex. Tot. € 4,500 = Monthly installment € 300 for 15 months. Ex. Tot. € 3,600 = Monthly installment € 720 for 5 months. 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