A CARVED MARBLE BUST OF A YOUNG MAN, POSSIBLY ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST

Orazio Marinali was one of the leading sculptors in Venice in the late 17th and very early 18th centuries. The present bust can be compared directly to other works by the artist such as his full-length marble of St. John the Evangelist (San Nicolò, Venice, see Bacchi, op. cit., fig. 464). Both exhibit the same square facial type, pronounced upper eyelid and faintly indicated lower lid. The bust may originally have formed part of a series of busts depicting Christ and the apostles.