Beyond the Veiled Christ: Giuseppe Sanmartino and terracotta

CYCLE: Research in Progress
SPEAKER: Riccardo Naldi
DATE: Thursday, September 24, 6:00 PM

Starting with a re-examination of the world-famous Veiled Christ in the Sansevero Chapel in Naples, this lecture retraces the key stages of Giuseppe Sanmartino’s career through the lens of his preparatory terracottas. From his very beginnings, the artist demonstrated an extraordinary ease in manipulating clay. While developing models for his works, he experimented with bold stylistic formulas that took on an autonomous character and a powerful figurative impact.
Through a close dialogue with the 17th-century Neapolitan tradition and the leading figures of the Roman Late Baroque, Sanmartino refined his distinctive artistic language within the "laboratory" of modeling. This is evidenced by a substantial group of terracottas which, thanks to recent research, has been successfully attributed to one of the greatest protagonists of 18th-century Italian sculpture.

Riccardo Naldi teaches Early Modern Art History at the University of Naples “L’Orientale.” His research focuses particularly on the figurative production of Southern Italy and its artistic relationships with other centers across the Italian peninsula and Spain.
In the wake of the dramatic 1980 earthquake, he has balanced his research activity with collaborations with heritage protection agencies, dedicating himself to works and contexts at risk due to their precarious state of conservation.