E. VICARI AND PIETRO BAZZANTI (ITALIAN, FL. LATE 19TH CENTURY)

E. Vicari is little recorded and it is probable that he was a sculptor working for Galleria Pietro Bazzanti, Florence. Another example of the same composition, but signed ‘Prof. Vicchi, Gallery Bazzanti’ sold Christie’s, London, 2 March 1995, lot 232 (£36,700). One signed ‘E. Vicari Gallerio Firenze’ sold Property from an Estate, Christie’s, New York, 10 September 1996, lot 51 ($29,900).
The hugely successful Florentine studio of Pietro Bazzanti e Figlio produced marble statuary and pietre dure ornament and established the Galleria Bazzanti at Lungarno Corsini 12, Florence in 1822 to exhibit their work. Their clientele included European and Russian aristocracy, and the industrial fortunes being made in England and America drove considerable export demand.
According to the Old Testament story, when the Pharaoh ordered the execution of all Israelite boys, the infant Moses was taken by his mother and placed in a basket by the River Nile where he was found by the Pharaoh's daughter and her attendants. A familiar subject in art history, its poignancy appealed to the sentimentality of the Victorian audience and was further disseminated by Gustave Doré's engraving of the scene in his hugely popular illustrated English Bible, published in 1866.