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Lot 73
FAUSTO MELOTTI (1901-1989)
La corte d’onore The Court of Honour
Closed11 February 2014
Price Realised
GBP 266,500
More Information
Specialist note
In this case, the "primacy" is mine: I won the "primacy of possession" almost immediately. La Corte d'onore (Court of Honour) is a work constructed on two levels, which is not often found in Melotti (although it does occur in other works). Virtuosity has burst forth, transforming itself into magic. Melotti solicits the imagination of the viewer, who only has to "tune in": depicted is a public ceremony, with the dignitaries lined up on the basis of their respective hierarchy: in the foreground, those of highest status, the others behind, in accordance with a pre-established order. The band begins to play (what would a ceremony be without a band?), the notes soar up to the sky, forming the "cloud" draped above the first level, and then come back down again, fainter, like the thin threads of brass (the pins) that descend from the drapery towards the dignitaries placed on the second level. A complex work, yet simple nevertheless, in which you never tire of gazing at the detail. To sum it up in a single word: magic. And who can tire of magic?
The work is "enhanced" by a very special certificate from the Archive: it was done on the back of a beautiful photo (30.8 x 39.5 cm) by the old Studio Gris in Milan. The photo is given in homage by Marta Melotti, to our passion and devotion to the great master, her father. We have always been tempted to have the photo framed, to display it beside the sculpture: we have not done so in order to preserve as best we can the condition of the certificate.
The work is "enhanced" by a very special certificate from the Archive: it was done on the back of a beautiful photo (30.8 x 39.5 cm) by the old Studio Gris in Milan. The photo is given in homage by Marta Melotti, to our passion and devotion to the great master, her father. We have always been tempted to have the photo framed, to display it beside the sculpture: we have not done so in order to preserve as best we can the condition of the certificate.