Naples, 18th Century, The Education Of Mary

Naples, 18th century

The Education of Mary

terracotta with traces of polychrome depicting, 26.5x20.5x12 cm

This terracotta sculpture is a typical example of 18th-century Neapolitan domestic devotion. The group depicts the Education of the Virgin, a theme very dear to local tradition, rendered here with an almost theatrical immediacy.

The structure is solid, with Saint Anne seated holding the open book for her daughter. The sculpture's most distinctive and fascinating feature, however, lies in the characterization of the faces, particularly that of Saint Anne. Responding to a precise aesthetic of the eighteenth-century Neapolitan school, the artist chooses not to idealize the Saint, but to portray her with an extreme realism that borders on the grotesque. The deep wrinkles, the marked profile and the almost caricatural expression are not signs of technical imperice, but rather the pinnacle of an expressive search aimed at "truth of nature".