The Sculpture Museum - Catalog - Page 58
Albacini’s style centres on close observation of antique originals, and fully
embodies the rigorously antiquarian aesthetic of Neoclassicism, an approach
certainly informed by his activity as a restorer of ancient statues. In this field,
conversely to his master Cavaceppi, Albacini showed a propensity to integrating
antiquities to the highest finish, restoring them to what he deemed was their
original splendour. The present artist, whose Marcus Aurelius does full justice to
the ancient bronze and who shows extensive knowledge of ancient statuary and
iconography, no doubt belonged to Albacini’s circle in Rome.
An interesting point of reference for our Marcus Aurelius is a marble model of
the same subject, of comparable dimensions, now in Slane Castle, County Meath,
Ireland. Virtually the only other large-scale Marcus Aurelius in marble known today,
it offers an indication of the type of setting such sculptures would have been
intended for, although the Italian inscription on our base suggests it was intended
for the grand residence of an Italian patron, possibly a Roman patrician.
related literature
F. Haskell and N. Penny, Taste and the Antique: The Lure of Classical Sculpture 1500–1900,
New Haven and London, 1981, pp. 252–55
S. Howard, ‘Ancient Busts and the Cavaceppi and Albacini casts’, Journal of the History of
Collections, III, no. 2, January 1991, pp. 199–217
V. Coltman, Classical Sculpture and the Culture of Collecting in Britain since 1760, Oxford, 2009,
pp. 85–87
