A builder who bought a marble statue from a reclamation yard for £300 is set to sell it for £100,000 after it was identified as the work of Italian sculptor Pietro Bracci. The 290-year-old marble maquette of Pope Clement XII Corsini was discovered at a salvage yard in Wiltshire. The statue, which had been thought to be made of concrete, originally came from a country house near Andover in Hampshire.
The 26-inch figure was created by Bracci, known for carving the central figure of Rome's Trevi Fountain. The maquette was made in preparation for a large bronze statue that once stood in the Great Hall of the Palazzo Nuovo in Rome. The original bronze statue no longer exists, and this maquette is believed to be the only surviving example, making it both rare and significant.
The anonymous vendor has listed the statue for auction with Salisbury-based Woolley & Wallis, which has given it a pre-sale estimate of £10,000, although it could potentially sell for ten times that amount due to considerable international interest.
Mark Yuan Richards, a furniture specialist at Woolley & Wallis, stated, 'This is an exceptionally exciting discovery. To have a rare eighteenth-century marble figure of Pope Clement XII by Pietro Bracci come to light, and now be offered for sale, is a remarkable opportunity.' He noted that the vendor is not a professional antiques dealer but has a keen eye for valuable items. The statue has been in a weathered condition, having been outdoors for approximately 50 years.
Richards added that the original bronze statue was melted down during the First Republic in 1798, and until the discovery of this marble maquette, the only known representation of the bronze was an engraving by Stefano and Rocco Pozzi. The circumstances of how the statue ended up in a garden in Hampshire remain unclear, but it may have been a gift to a British individual during the Grand Tour in the 18th century or a diplomatic gift related to the papacy.