FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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AGONY, ECSTASY, IVORY:
THE SAINT SEBASTIAN OF AGNESIUS, A REDISCOVERED MASTERPIECE
SHOWN IN CONJUNCTION WITH
A SELECTION OF ITALIAN AND OTHER EUROPEAN OLD MASTER PAINTINGS
ON VIEW AT MORETTI FINE ART / ADAM WILLIAMS FINE ART,
24 EAST 80TH STREET, JANUARY 21–FEBRUARY 4, 2011
New York: Once again, Andrew Butterfield and Fabrizio Moretti, the renowned Re-
naissance and Baroque specialists, will collaborate to present Agony, Ecstasy, Ivory: The Saint Sebastian of Agnesius, A Rediscovered Masterpiece, at Moretti Fine Art/
Adam Williams Fine Art 24 East 80th Street, January 21–February 4, 2011.
Saint Sebastian of
Agensius
Coinciding with the Old Master Drawings Week and the auction
house sales, this rare sculpture accompanies an exhibition of significant Italian and other European Old Master paintings, including
works by Bicci de Lorenzo, Francesco Ubertini called ‘il Bacchiacca’, Master of the Osservanza, Giovanni Antonio Canal, called
Canaletto, and Luis Melendez.
The Saint Sebastian by Jacobus Agnesius, circa 1638, - one of the largest and most specMaster of the Osservanza,
tacular ivory statues ever created—will be on public view for the first time.
Flight into Egypt
“In my opinion, this beautiful ivory statue is an absolute masterpiece,” said Andrew
Butterfield. “It is one of the largest and most astonishingly detailed sculptures in its representation of the
anatomy and has a degree of raw emotional power found only in very great works of art.”
The statue is two feet tall, twice the size of what is normally considered large for a work in ivory. Given its
scale and its quality, it was almost certainly commissioned for a prince or other royal patron.
Not only is it significantly larger than almost any other ivory statuette to survive, it was made in emulation
of the grandeur and the seriousness of monumental sculpture in marble. Jacobus Agnesius aspired to carve
this ivory in the spirit of Bernini’s Apollo and Daphne, or the celebrated classical statue of the Laocöon, widely
recognized as an ideal image of heroic suffering. The result is a work of extraordinary beauty and power.
“With its luscious yet exacting portrayal of the human body, its grim depiction of emotional and physical
suffering, and its suggestion of the exaltation of religious release, Agnesius’s Saint Sebastian is almost without
parallel,” said Butterfield.
Little is known about the life of Jacobus Agnesius, who was most likely from northern Europe, but studied
and worked extensively in Italy. Works by his hand are exceedingly rare, and up to now only two have been
universally recognized: the Martyrdom of Saint Bartholomew in the Musée Toulouse-Lautrec in Albi, France,
signed by the artist and dated 1638; and the Saint Sebastian in the Musée du Louvre, Paris. Each of these
works is a masterpiece, noteworthy both for the unsurpassed skill of the carving, as well as the dramatic representation of intense suffering.
“We are very pleased to present a selection of paintings by Renaissance Old Masters,” said Fabrizio Moretti.
“Of particular note are Caneletto’s A Capriccio of the Prisons of San Marco set in a Piazza With A Coach and
Figures Conversing, and Flight into Egypt, by Master of the Osservanza. “
“Of all the paintings by Caneletto, this one has the most distinguished
provenance a painting by him can have,” said Moretti. Painted for the
artist's great patron and agent Joseph Smith, who was largely responsible
for the painter's career, from the early 1720s onwards, it subsequently
was passed along with much of his collection to King George III in 1762.
It originally formed part of a series of thirteen canvases of similar size
presumably intended as over-doors to decorate the Palazzo MangilliValmarana, Smith's house on the Grand Canal just above the Rialto
Bridge. Five of these are signed and dated 1744 (in June of which year
Smith was appointed British Consul) and it must be presumed that all
were executed at, or around, that date.
A Capriccio of the Prisons of San Marco
set in a Piazza With A Coach and Figures
Conversing
The Master of the Osservanza has been described as one of the outstanding Sienese artists of the second quarter of the fifteenth century. In Flight into Egypt, the Virgin holds the Christ child closely, presenting Him to
the viewer as she rides the mule. Saint Joseph appears at the left side of the composition holding two sticks to
keep the mule at a gallop. Both he and the Virgin look in the distance as they walk through the landscape that
frames them. This small panel is the companion to The Dream of Saint Joseph, a tripartite altarpiece portraying
the Birth of the Virgin.
Agony, Ecstasy, Ivory: The Saint Sebastian of Agnesius, A Rediscovered Masterpiece and A Selection of Italian and Other European Old Master paintings opens at Moretti Fine Art / Adam Williams Fine Art, 24 East
80th Street, between Fifth and Madison Avenues. The exhibition opens to the public on January 21 and continues through Friday, February 4, 2011., with a private viewing on Tuesday, 25 January. Gallery hours are Monday through Saturday, 10 AM to 5 PM.
For more information visit www.andrewbutterfield.com and www.morettigallery.com.