Carved Wooden Frame - Attributed To Guidi, Gosi And Querci

Attributed to Arturo Guidi (1844-1911), Angelo Querci (1838-1900) and Gaetano Gosi (1835-after 1892).
Large carved frame, mirror. Walnut.
Siena, 1870-1880.

Gosi, Guidi and Querci were the apprentices of Pietro Giusti, they and took over his workshop in the cloister of San Domenico in Siena in 1867. The partners quickly gained famousness for the quality and finesse of their woodcarving, inspired by Renaissance reliefs. They drew most of their inspiration from the Sienese Antonio di Neri Barili, who was entrusted with the carving of the wooden decorations for the Chigi-Piccolomini palace in La Postierla, the choir of the chapel of San Giovanni in Siena Cathedral and for cloister of Santuccio di Siena.

The three artists were selected to exhibit their work at the National Exhibition in Parma in 1870 and at the Universal Exhibition in Vienna in 1873. Following the latter, they worked on a decoration for Tsar Alexander II.

Our frame, which surrounds a mirror, is richly decorated with friezes of Renaissance motifs representing chimeras, birds, plant motifs and antique vases of extreme finesse. At the corners, putto heads in high relief animate the object by the asymmetry of their gaze, which they direct in different directions.