Simon Dickinson, Chairman, says ‘At a time when there are fewer galleries dealing in this field than ever before and the auction houses seem to be taking a step back, we have decided to take a step forward.’
The exhibition will include several re-discovered masterpieces including Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s bronze Matilda of Canossa (c. 1633), one of the last remaining casts of this bronze left in private hands, which is being offered with an asking price of $2 million.
Among the other highlights is Luca della Robbia’s Portrait of a Youth
(c. 1435-40). Defined as one of the fathers of Renaissance art, Luca della Robbia was among the protagonists of the rebirth of terracotta sculpture. Portrait of a Youth is an extraordinary surviving example, and offers international collectors a chance to acquire one of the last works by the artist outside museum ownership.
The most valuable work in the exhibition is Massimiliano Soldani Benzi’s The Lamentation of Christ (c. 1708), which is being offered for $2.5 million. The Lamentation of Christ is without doubt one of the artist’s most beloved subjects, and it exemplifies the thematic profoundness of Florentine plastic arts between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
Simon Dickinson says ‘It was only natural that when my son Milo Dickinson joined Dickinson as our new managing director last year that he wished to introduce more sculpture to the gallery. Milo had run the Old Master Sculpture sales at Christie’s for many years and has deep expertise and experience in this field. The exhibition is likely to be one of the greatest showings of Renaissance Sculpture in a London gallery this century.’
The exhibition is at Simon C. Dickinson Ltd, 58 Jermyn Street, London, and will run from 17 June to 18 July 2024.