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18th-century Italian wooden figure of a monk with a rosary
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18th-century Italian wooden figure of a monk with a rosary
Carved black wood
Height: 50.5cm
Width: 21cm
Depth: 16cm
Width: 21cm
Depth: 16cm
Museum number: MP24
On display: Monk's Parlour
All spaces are in No. 13 Lincoln's Inn Fields unless identified as in No. 12, Soane's first house.
For tours https://www.soane.org/your-visit
Curatorial note
This figure stood in the Monk's Parlour in Soane’s day and was described by him as a portrait of ‘Padre Giovanni’ – the imaginary medieval occupant of this ‘Monk’s Parloir’. Of course the name ‘Padre Giovanni’ is a play on Soane’s own name, meaning ‘Father John’ and so the statue adds to the humour of the Monk's Parlour's intriguing mock-Gothic interior. Soane’s friends seem to have enjoyed his identification of himself with his fictional hermit – Nancy Flaxman even sent him a set of rosary beads as a gift, in a small wooden box with an inscription to ‘Padre Giovanni’.
Literature
Soane, Description, 1835, p.26
Soane collections online is being continually updated. If you wish to find out more or if you have any further information about this object please contact us: worksofart@soane.org.uk