SAINT PHILIP NERI

Details

CIRCLE OF ALESANDRO ALGARDI (1598-1654), ROME, SECOND HALF 17TH CENTURY
SAINT PHILIP NERI
Bronze bust; on a spreading square bronze socle and a later marble plinth
13 ½ in. (35 cm.) high, overall; 1 ¾ in. (4 cm.) high, the marble plinth

Provenance

Henry Harris (d. 1950), and by whom bequeathed to his manservant.
Sir John Pope Hennessy (1913–1994), acquired in Kensington Church Street in 1951, and by whom bequeathed to the present owner.

Literature

J. Pope-Hennessy, Learning to Look, New York and London, 1991, pp. 315-6.

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Maja Markovic

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Lot Essay

In his autobiography, the great art historian Sir John Pope-Hennessy wrote of the present bust; 'on top of a cabinet is a bronze bust of St Philip Neri by Algardi. Most of Algardi’s busts of St Philip were made in multiple versions, but this one is unique, and its chasing is of remarkably high quality. It was bequeathed by Henry Harris to his manservant, who became a Catholic and took at his confirmation the name Philip. After Harris died, the manservant took to drink, and about a year later I found the bust in a shop in Kensington Church Street where he had pawned it' (loc. cit.).

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