Gypsy Girl

Cordier Nicolas

(Saint-Mihiel, Meuse 1567 - Rome 1612)

The young Gypsy Girl smiles while she predicts the future, running her extended finger along the lines of an imaginary hand. Her face is framed by the curls which flow out from under her head cloth, which is edged in gold and tied under her chin. Her left arm is completely hidden under her cloak, whose upper portion is decorated with the Borghese symbols – the eagle and the dragon.

The sculpture was executed beginning with the cloak in grigio antico marble of archaeological origin: to this the sculptor Nicolas Cordier added the right hand and feet in bronze and the tunic in white marble. The French artist was particularly able in reworking ancient marbles, which he integrated with different types of stones and metals to create refined multi-material works. Cordier also used this technique in realising sculptures with sacred subjects, such as the Saint Agnes for the Roman basilica of the same name; indeed the similarity between that work and the one in question was crucial for deciding on the attribution of the Gypsy Girl to him, as in the past some critics had also proposed the name of Tiburzio Vergelli of the Marche.

The execution of the sculpture probably dates to between 1607 and 1612, the period in which Cordier realised several works for Cardinal Scipione Borghese.

Object details

Commentary

This refined sculpture depicts a smiling young woman, most certainly a gypsy. Her hair is gathered under a head cloth with gilded hems and ribbons, attached under her chin. Several curls flow out from under the head piece, framing her face and falling onto her shoulders. A band, which is also gold in colour, crosses her forehead; it is embellished by an exquisite stone setting. Her left arm is completely hidden by her cloak, while her right is raised, with the index finger extended, probably signifying that she is tracing the lines of a hand to predict the future. The cloak is fastened on her shoulder by a gilded round boss, which was reapplied by Cosimo Fancelli in 1668. The strip at the top of the overgarment is decorated with an eagle and a dragon, the heraldic symbols of the Borghese family, while the lower band shows palmettes and plant volutes, from which fall long golden fringes. Beneath the cloak the woman wears a white tunic with delicate folds, whose sleeve is pushed back at her wrist. The pair of sandals on her feet completes her attire.

The Gypsy Girl was executed starting with a piece of grigio antico marble of archaeological origin for the cloak, which shows similarities to models from Herculaneum (Pressouyre, 1984,pp. 415-417, cat. 22). To this the sculptor attached the head, right hand and feet in bronze and then added the white marble tunic. In 1605, Nicolas Cordier used the same multi-material technique for the statue of Saint Agnes for the basilica of the same name outside the walls; indeed, the resemblance between this sculpture and the work in question is striking. For this reason, critics – beginning with De Rinaldis (L’ arte in Roma, 1948, pp. 79, 201) – have almost unanimously ascribed the Gypsy Girl to the French sculptor. In the past, some critics opted for an attribution to Tiburzio Vergelli of the Marche, based on a comparison with the Charity of the baptismal font in the Basilica della Santa Casa in Loreto (Venturi 1936, p. 746, no. 1).

The sculpture was probably executed between 1607 and 1612, the period in which Cordier produced several works for Cardinal Scipione Borghese, as the documentation confirms (Pressouyre, 1984, pp. 415-417, cat. 22). The Gypsy Girl shares elements with two other multi-material sculptures by Cordier, the Moor and the Gypsy Woman, which date to antiquity and were integrated in the 16th century. Held today at the Louvre, those two works once stood harmoniously next to the sculpture in question in the Egyptian Room following the late 18th-century renovation of the Villa by Antonio Asprucci. The perfect amalgamation of the parts masterfully conceals the joints where the ancient find and the modern additions meet, making the work one of the best examples of integrative restoration of the era.

The work was also praised by Pierre Adrien Pâris, director of the French Academy, who suggested that it might serve as the pendant of Diana the Hunter. The Gypsy Girl did not figure among the works purchased by Napoleon in 1807 because it was considered modern (Arizzoli-Clementel 1978, p. 9, no. 38).

A reference to the work in 1613 by the poet Scipione Francucci tells us that it was displayed on the main floor of Palazzo Borghese in Borgo at that date. Three years later, it was moved to Villa Pinciana, as we know from a payment receipt made out to the carpenter Antonio di Battisti for the pedestal (Rossi 2011, p. 348). In 1650 it was located in Room 9 on a lost ancient altar with garland and ram-head motifs (Manilli, p. 100). From 1787 to 1841 it was documented in Room 7 (Von Ramdohr, 1787, I, p. 325; Nibby, 1841, p. 923); since 1893 it has been displayed in Room 10 (Venturi, p. 173).

Sonja Felici