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The Demidoff Table
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The Demidoff Table

Artist: Lorenzo Bartolini (Italian, 1777–1850)
Patron: Commissioned by Prince Anatole Demidov (1845–1870)
Date: 1845
Culture: Italian, Florence
Medium: Marble
Dimensions: Overall (confirmed): H. 64 3/8 x W. 51 1/4 x Diam. 49 3/4 x in. (163.5 x 130.2 x 126.4 cm)
Classification: Sculpture
Credit Line: Gift of le Duc de Loubat, 1903
Accession Number: 03.11a–d
On view in Gallery 555
Description Object Information Related Objects Online Resources Video Audio
Commissioned by Count Anatoly Nicolaevich Demidoff.
The subject is a complex, cosmological allegory best described in the sculptor's own words: "Stretched out upon the plan of the world is Cupid, god of generation, sustaining and watching over the symbolic genius of dissolute wealth without virtue, who snores in his sleep . . . dreaming of past diversions in pleasure. Left to himself, the genius of ambitious rectitude in work sleeps the agitated sleep of misfortune and glory. . . his head extending beyond the periphery of the world."
The original plaster is in the Gipsoteca Bartoliniana, Florence.
  • Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

    Signature: Signed, and dated (on side of quiver): Bartolini fece 1845 Firenze [executed by Bartolini 1845 Florence]

    Inscription: On side of quiver: Di commissione del principe / Anatolio Demidoff [Ordered by the prince/Anatole Demidoff]

  • Provenance

    Commissioned by Prince Anatole Demidov , Villa San Donato, near Florence (1845–d. 1870; his sale, March 4, 1870, no. 228; to Loubat for Fr. 3,400); Joseph H. de Loubat , Paris, (1870–1903; his gift to MMA)

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