Ever since 1984, Brothers Bruno and Eleonora Botticelli have dealt with the discovery and study of European sculptures, pieces of furniture and paintings from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. Continuing the work begun by his father in 1960, they regularly exhibit at the Florence International Biennial Antiques Fair. Over time, important works of art discovered by Bruno and Eleonora Botticelli were bought by the Italian government to be displayed in several important museums. Among these, the altarpiece by Bernardino Poccetti, once in the Certosa del Galluzzo - today at the Uffizi Gallery; a series of marble pillars carved by Benedetto da Rovezzano for the San Giovanni Gualberto funeral monument - now at the Museo del Cenacolo di San Salvi in Florence. The Botticelli brothers take part in TEFAF Maastricht and Frieze Masters London, maintaining a constant presence on the international art market.
This work, from his youth, is unique in its material essence. Portrait of a Child is one of the very rare examples of an original terracotta sculpture from Medardo Rosso's studio that has survived to this day. The modeling that retains the rapidity of plaster, the skillful nonchalance of a form achieved almost with brushstrokes of overlapping material, the diagonal placement of the head and the collar that protrudes from the base with the same approach as the Birichino, the suspension of the volume on the base itself, and finally a pathos that already preludes the Jewish Child are multiple and consistent confirmations of the authenticity of this unpublished terracotta. Paola Mola
Essay by Prof. Andrea Bacchi.
