ANTONIO MONTAUTI (Florence, active 1707-1740)

Cosimo III de Medici

Marble

Height: 28 ¾ inches (73 cm)

On later marble socle bearing cartouche and inscription COSIMO III DE MEDICI/1642-1723.   Height: 8 ¼ inches (21 cm)

Antonio Montauti was the most important pupil of the eminent sculptor Guiseppe Piamontini and began his apprenticeship as a maker of medals and bronzes.  In 1715 he carved his most important early marbles of S. Philip Neri, The Ecstasy and The Distribution of Bread, both reliefs still preserved in Sta. Fienze. 

By the 1720’s more major commissions had followed, most particularly for the Medici and for the cloister of San Frediano in Florence for whom he carved the large 1726 marble of Sta Maria Maddalena de Pazzi.  The 1730’s his influence spreading beyond his native Florence with commissions for works such as the SS Peter and Paul for Mafra in Portugal.

In 1733 he traveled to Rome under the patronage of Cardinal Alamanno Salviati and by the following year he had come to the attention of Pope Clement XII Corsini for whom he completed the marble Pieta in the Corsini family chapel in the Church of the Lateran.  The Pope appointed him architect of St. Peters in 1735, a highly important position, whilst at the same time he contributed a S. Benedict for the series of founders of religious orders in the same church.

The present important marble was carved in 1723 while Mantauti was still in Florence.   The firm attribution stems from Langedijk’s reference to the document (op cit.) which mentions “…ritratto di marmo dell’A.R. di Cosimo III di mano del  Sig. Antonio Montauti (a portrait in the marble of Grand Duke Cosimo III by the hand of Mr. Antonio Montauti) shown at S. Annunziata in 1724, one year after the death of the sitter.  It is a measure of the sculptor’s stature that he was commissioned for a posthumous portrait of such an important sitter, and we can appreciate the challenge that Montauti has successfully met by ennobling the sitter with a serene grandeur whilst presenting him as he really looked.  Although abnormal by today’s benchmarks of appearance, Cosimo is shown in a realistic way with a quiet dignity befitting his highly important position in early 18^th century Florence.

Cosimo III ruled for 53 years and, as Acton has remarked, was an assiduous collector and patron of the arts and humanities whose insatiable curiosity drove interests as diverse as botany, oenophilia, and natural history. He was, to give two examples, the most important early patron of Soldani-Benzi and the key patron of the semi-precious stone workshops in Florence which reached their zenith under him.  The products of these interests were often used as diplomatic gifts, reflecting his desire to be considered the most splendid of sovereigns.

This baroque bust is a rare example of this sculptor’s skill as a portraitist and is a testament both to Montauti’s aptitude in marble carving and to the dignity of the troubled yet enlightened sitter.

Montauti may have based his posthumous depiction of Cosimo III on the portrait bust by Giovanni Battista Foggini (1652-1725) now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.