(Volos, Greece 1888–1978 Rome)
Oreste e Pilade (Gli Archeologi), early 1960s, signature engraved one a side G. de Chirico, signed with brown varnish on the back, partially deleted, signed with red varnish, inside the sculpture: Questa terracotta “Oreste e Pilade” é opera autentica da me eseguita e firmata Giorgio de Chirico, terracotta, partially heightened in red, 33 x 23 x 25 cm

Photo certificate:
Fondazione Giorgio e Isa de Chirico, Rome, archive number 016/07/2018 OT

Provenance:
Collection Mario Rimoldi (1900-1972), Cortina d’Ampezzo;
there acquired around 1960/1965; and thence by descent -
Private Collection, Italy

Comparative Literature:
C. Bruni Sakraischick, Giorgio de Chirico, Catalogo generale, Electa, Milan,
vol. II, tome 2, no. 137

..... “Naive and unsuspecting people believe that real painting is colour thrown onto a canvas at random, without spine or foundation, and that real sculpture is a hard, cold form. That is where the mistake lies. If a sculpture is hard, it is not sculpture. Sculpture must be soft and warm; as such, it will not only have all of painting’s softness, but also its colour. A beautiful sculpture is always painterly.”
Giorgio de Chirico, in “Aria d’Italia”, 1940

Many of the terracotta sculptures Giorgio de Chirico created in the 1940s were not inspired by the paintings of those same years, but drew on motifs from the 1920s instead. The sculptural group known as “The Archaeologists”, also referred to as “Ancient Friends” or “Orestes and Pylades” in homage to their legendary friendship, stands out for the monumental quality of its figures, a characteristic that was also shared by de Chirico’s and Picasso’s paintings in those years.
The celebration of friendship is well represented in the embrace that unites the two figures, which are at the same level and on a single support, without background. The detail of the hand resting on the shoulder is typical of couples that feature on Egyptian, Etruscan and Roman sarcophagi as a symbol of eternal union.