A deep crack runs down the front of the statue of Paul, from his collar to the curve of his cloak. 

These two sculptures belonged to the famous antiques dealer and collector Carlo De Carlo. Following his death (in 1999), they featured in the exhibition held in his memory at the Galleria dell’Accademia in Florence in 2001. In April of the same year, they were sold at a Semenzato auction in Florence and were still in Tuscany in late May 2006, when they appeared in another Semenzato auction, this time in Scarperia, Florence. 

The subject matter, style, dimensions and bases tell us that the statues were designed together and created by the same hand. They are both wrapped in a cloak, gathered over the left forearm, and wear long tunics with abundant gilding and hems decorated with painted floral motifs, edged with narrow purple lines. The two saints have their heads turned to their right, with one arm bent (Peter to his breast, Paul stroking his beard), while the other arm holds a book at their side. Lastly, in both cases the figure bears his weight on one leg, while the other is very slightly raised. The head of St Peter, with his grey hair and short curly beard, complies with traditional iconographic canons. His right hand (currently missing the index finger) originally held the keys, most of which have been lost, as referred to in the inscription on the base: “Claviger Aethere[us]”.¹ A deep crack runs down the front of the statue of Paul, from his collar to the curve of his cloak. In terms of his dress, the saint differs from his companion in the sleeves of his tunic, which Paul wears rolled up above his elbows. He rests his left hand on the hilt of the long sword, which has a sheath decorated with white motifs against a black background. The inscription written on the base, “Vas Electionis”, is a direct quote from the Acts of the Apostles (9:15), in which Jesus appears to his disciple Ananias, asking him to look for Paul as he is God’s “chosen instrument”. 

The references to St Martha and St Cornelia in the inscriptions on the back of the bases is more difficult to interpret. We do not have sufficient information to identify an area where both saints were venerated, which could potentially be the original setting for these two sculptures. Despite this, the brief scholarly accounts of the two statues have not hesitated to place them within the context of Spanish Mannerist sculpture from the second quarter of the 16th century. To this regard, it is worth mentioning the importance attributed to the worship of Martha of Astorga (León) in Spain. It therefore seems possible that the inscriptions on the sculptures in question may refer to this figure, who is much venerated in Castile, and not to the better-known Martha of Bethany, sister of Mary Magdalene.² In any case, the Spanish lead is supported first and foremost by the style of the two sculptures, starting with the use of polychrome wood with extensive gilding. Together with the intense features, particularly in the case of Paul, both these aspects are commonplace in the work of Alonso Berruguete (c. 1488-1561). This is particularly true of the works he produced after his return to Spain, following his Italian period in Rome and Florence (c. 1507/8- 18), where the greatest innovations in the Maniera were being developed at the time.³ However, the sculptor behind St Peter and St Paul reveals a less exuberant creative vein, with inferior carving and less effective results, particularly in terms of their expression, compared to the particularly dramatic and emotional outcomes typical of the Spanish painter and sculptor, which can be seen, for example, in the retablos of the Mejorada of Olmedo (1523- 26) and of St Benedict (1526-34), both now in the Museo Nacional de Escultura in Valladolid. The slender and sinewy figures that populate these large decorative apparatus only bear a superficial resemblance to the placid St Peter and St Paul in the Cerruti Collection. Nevertheless, the idea of tracing their origins back to Spanish wooden sculpture seems to be a valid one and their creator could be one of the figures who, despite being aware of the Italian Mannerism introduced to the Iberian peninsula by Berruguete, was already heading towards that return to a classical solemnity that characterised Spanish sculpture in the mid-16th century.⁴ 

Francesca Padovani 

¹ This definition is taken from Aratore 2006, vol. I, p. 291. 

² On Martha of Astorga see A. Quintana Prieto, “Marta, vergine, santa, martire di Astorga”, in Bibliotheca Sanctorum 1961-2013, vol. VIII, 1967, pp. 1203- 1204. 

³ Longhi 1953 was the first to gather together a corpus of Italian pictorial works by the Spaniard; the first indepth study devoted entirely to Alonso Berruguete’s sculptural activity in Italy is M. G. Ciardi Dupré Dal Poggetto, “Sull’attività italiana di Alonso Berruguete scultore”, in Commentari, XIX, I-II, 1968, pp. 111-136; regarding Berruguete’s arrival in Italy, see T. Mozzati, “Alonso Berruguete in Italia: nuovi itinerari”, in Florence 2013, pp. 17-47, esp. pp. 17-22; on his Italian activity see also F. Caglioti, “Alonso Berruguete in Italia: un nuovo documento fiorentino, una nuova fonte donatelliana, qualche ulteriore traccia”, in Di Giampaolo, Saccomani 2001, pp. 109- 146; on the possibility of a visit to Naples: Leone de Castris 2017, pp. 41-49. 

⁴ Weise 1940, p. 171.