Massimiliano Soldani Benzi (1656–1740): Death of St Joseph, c. 1729

This relief is a rare ‘modello’, a highly finished preparatory study, for a bronze executed around 1729 by the Florentine artist Massimiliano Soldani. The bronze was commissioned by the Spanish Viceroy of Sicily, but Soldani eventually decided against sending the finished work to Palermo since he feared he would, in his own words, preserved in an extraordinary letter, be ‘ripped off’ by the patron.

 

The relief depicts the Death of Saint Joseph, husband of the Virgin Mary and father of Jesus Christ, who together form the Holy Family. St Joseph’s deathbed is placed diagonally across the picture; the Saint’s right arm is held up by the Virgin, while a cherub sweetly kisses his hand. On the other side of the bed, Jesus holds the saint’s left hand, pointing towards seven cherubs that are in the clouds above their heads, throwing rose buds below. The scene’s setting is essential and highly dramatic: the Virgin sits on a ledge decorated with an acanthus leaf and a garland of flowers, an incense burner is placed at her feet, while a foreshortened doorway to the right provides the only architectural element of the composition.

 

A work in clay by Soldani is a very unusual thing. It represents a key moment in the development of the composition, which the artist eventually changed before forging the bronze. The piece testifies to the working methods of the sculptor, as well as to Soldani’s status as one of the leading artists at the Medici court in Florence and abroad. 

 

This important ‘modello’ was acquired by the Detroit Institute of Arts on our stand at TEFAF Maastricht 2023.