Description
Venetian sculptor (18th century) – Dancing Boy.
Full figure in carved, lacquered and painted wood, with fabric insert.
The sculpture depicts a boy in a dynamic pose, captured in a lively gesture with the right arm raised toward his face and the left hand holding a piece of fabric. The figure wears a tricorn hat, a short jacket and breeches, typical elements of 18th-century Venetian popular costume. Figures of this type, animated and caught in everyday or theatrical attitudes, were intended to adorn aristocratic and bourgeois interiors, often as part of series or as complements to broader figurative genrecompositions. The subject connects to the repertoire of masks and popular types that characterize Venetian figurative culture of the 18th century, reflecting the taste for commedia dell’arte and scenes of daily life widespread in the decorative sculpture of the period.
Condition report: Generally good state of conservation. Scattered losses and wear to the polychromy. Base of later date.
