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June 30, 2014 // 0

DocciaManufactory,Judith andHolofernes atLACMA

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Judith and Holoferenes, Doccia Manufactory, c.1740s. After Agostino Cornacchini, 18thcentury. Porcelain with glaze on ebony base.

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Judith and HolofernesAfter Agostino Cornacchini (Italy, 1686-1754)Doccia Manufactory (Italy, Florence, founded 1737)Italy, original model 1722-1723, this example circa 1746-1750SculptureDoccia porcelain with original wood base21 3/4 × 17 × 12 in. (55.25 × 43.18 × 30.48 cm)Los Angeles County Museum of Art (M.2004.175)

The story of Judith and Holoferenes comes from the deuterocanonicalBook of Judith in the Bible; it concerns a beautiful widow, Judith, fromthe city of Bethulia. With the Assyrian army camped outside the walls,ready to attack the city, Judith enters the enemy camp by guile andseduces the Assyrian general Holoferenes. The latter, apparently,passes out drunk before anything sexual actually takes place, at whichpoint Judith proceeds to decapitate him. Without a leader, the Assyrianarmy disperses, and Israel is saved.

By now you might be aware of my penchant for the more seriousscenes in art, and this one is an especially lovely example. The DocciaManufactory was founded by Florentine Marchese Carlo Ginori in 1735,securing a monopoly on porcelain production in Tuscany, with 1746marking the first public sales. The chief modeller was Gaspare Bruschi.Made from a rougher clay, it is a gray-tinted hard paste porcelain withrather coarse edges that does not admit of careful detailing (you cansee this especially well in this example). It proves, however, perfect forthe Baroque/Rococo examples the manufactory produced in the 18thcentury, allowing for the rounded volumes and rather rough details ofthe period (see Bruschi’s modelling of the Farnese Hercules).

Judith and Holofernes (detail). After Agostino Cornacchini, 18th century. Porcelain with glazeon ebony base.

Particularly interesting (the punctum as Roland Barthes would say, ifyou like that sort of thing) is the manner in which the central scene isframed on the left by the headless body of Holofernes and on the rightby Judith’s maid. They form almost a crescent that emphasizes theverticals of Judith with the head of Holofernes, presented rather gleefullyto the viewer. The head itself references Michelangelo’s famous self-portrait in the Sistine Chapel’s Last Judgement, with the mouth hangingopen and the skin loose and sagging, while the eyebrows in turn givehim a pathos that looks to the famous Laocoon (see below). Judithpoints gracefully at Holoferenes’ prone body to her right (her hand isamazingly detailed), exaggerating the twisting movement of thecontrapposto as she brings the head forward and points back atHolofernes; this is beautifully captured by the modelling of the drapery.

Then, of course, there’s the heroine’s serene look; she displays nocompunction at the cruelty of her act, instead revelling on her triumph insaving Israel from destruction and, in the process, renewing theIsraelite’s faith in their God. This is a story with a clear-cut moral thatadmits no gradations.

It is, indeed, truly a masterpiece, one that we’re lucky to have in LosAngeles.

Laocoon. Hellenistic Sculpture, now in the Museo Pio Clementino in the Vatican

doccia, ginori, lacma, porcelain, sculptureTags

Collecting Old Masters, Eighteenth Century, Humanities, Porcelain, SculptureCategories

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