(Lugano 1815–1884 Turin)
Milan, Church of Santa Maria alla Fontana, signed, dated C Bossoli 1849, watercolour on paper, 46 x 60 cm, framed, (GG)

We are grateful to Dr. Arabella Cifani for confirming the authenticity on the basis of a photograph and for her kind assistance in cataloguing this work.

This watercolour was painted by Carlo Bossoli during his Milanese years. The church shown here is Santa Maria alla Fontana, in front of whose entrance a large basin was located until 1877. The water from this fountain was said to possess miraculous power. In the foreground of the painting are two craftsmen from the art foundry Manfredini-Viscardi, who put the finishing touches on one of the Dioscuri, designed by Pelagio Palagi. They crown the lattice that completes the Piazzetta Reale in front of the Palazzo Reale in Turin. The art foundry was located next to the church of Santa Maria alla Fontana and in 1846 cast the Dioscuri statues in bronze after the plaster models of Abbondio Sangiorgio (now in the Musei Civici in Bologna). The statues have since 1847 crowned the large pillars on both sides of the entrance gate of the Palazzo Reale.
The present lot represents a unique, pictorial testimony of the creation of these important bronzes.