MONTAUTI, Antonio - b. ~1685 Firenze, d. ~1740 Roma

Italian sculptor, medallist and possible architect. A pupil in Florence of Giuseppe Piamontini, he was first active as a medallist; one of his earliest and most exquisite medals celebrated the visit of King Frederick IV of Denmark and Norway to Florence in 1708. On the obverse is a portrait of the King; on the reverse, a view of the city with a reclining river god personifying the Arno (Bargello, Florence). A medal of Conte Lorenzo Magalotti, dated 1712 (British Museum, London), has Apollo on the reverse, whose exaggerated sway in the hips is reflected in two later small bronzes (Rome, Palazzo Corsini). There are also two medals of the Grand Duke Gian Gastone de’ Medici (before 1723 and 1731, both Bargello, Florence).

Montauti’s careful characterizations in the portrait medals are reflected in his marble portrait busts. One, of Gian Gastone de’ Medici (c. 1724; S. Maria Nuova, Florence), emphasizes the ugly features of large nose, pouting lips and jutting chin by using a schematic treatment for the wig.

Pietà

The Virgin Mary was often associated with Christ’s Passion in an image of grieving sorrow that was designed to move woeshippers deeply in an age when emotions flowed freely. Not surprisingly, this image, which combines the corpse of a tortured son with a mother calling on humanity to bear witness to her grief, harks back to the pietà motif that became popular in the late Middle Ages and has continued to flourish since. In the superbly modelled group in the crypt of the Corsini Chapel by the Florentine sculptor Montauti, the calm grandeur of the Virgin’s outstretched arms declaring her grief and inviting the onlooker to prayer expresses a human as well as a a sacred drama.