The Archangel Gabriel

<p>Possibly Reggio Emilia Cathedral, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. [1] </p><p>Possibly the Arbib Collection for 40-50 years. [2]</p> <p>Possibly Albino Cesana, Venice. [3]</p> <p>Publio Podio, Bologna (?), by 1921. [4]</p> <p>Georges J. DeMotte, New York, by 1923;</p> <p>1923 gift to Princeton University Art Museum.</p> <p>NOTES:</p> <p>[1] This is the overall consensus by scholars, that it was created either for a choir screen or presbytery enclosure in Reggio Emilia Cathedral. See Arturo Calzona, ed., <em>Matilde e il Tesoro Dei Canossa: tra castelli, monasteri e città</em>, exh. cat., Reggio Emilia, Palazzo Magnani, Museo Diocesano, Musei Civici and Canossa, Museo Naborre Campanini, 31 August, 2008-11 January, 2009 (Milan: Silvana Editoriale, 2008), 559-562; Arturo Carlo Quintavalle, <em>Wiligelmo e Matilde: L'officina romanica</em>, exh. cat. (Milan: 1991), 477-481; Walter Heil, "Some North Italian Romanesque Sculpture in Marble," <em>Art in America </em>15 (1927): 83ff. Nerio Artioli, however, thinks that the sculpture was not made for Reggio Emilia Cathedral but the nearby Church of San Prospero di Castello which was demolished in the sixteenth century. See Nerio Artioli, "Sei Dicusse Formelle di un Ignoto Maestro Romanico," <em>Quaderni d'Archeologia Reggiana </em>4 (1980): 204-219. </p><p>[2] Nerio Artioli gives additional provenance information for the four reliefs of the Archangel Gabriel and Saints Daria, Grisanto, and Prospero that the art dealer Georges J. DeMotte had in his possession and many scholars believe came from the same structure. See Artioli, "Sei Dicusse Formelle di un Ignoto Maestro Romanico," 205. While it is still unclear exactly to whom "Arbib" refers, it might be an individual from the Jewish mercantile family of Italian origin (Livorno) long based in Tripoli, Libya. The family was involved in numerous business ventures in North Africa and Europe, including the antique trade, fiber processing, publishing, and the import of ivory, feathers, glass, and cloth, and maintained offices in London, Manchester, Paris, and Venice. With Walter Cahn and Artioli both determining that the Archangel Gabriel relief was likely in Venice after this point in its history before being sold to art dealer Publio Podio, "Arbib" here may indicate the collection of a family member related to Vittorio Arbib, who created a glass bead business in Venice in the mid-19th century (A. Bolini &amp; V. Arbib fabbrica di Conterie). His son Salvatore, for example, was a known art collector and returned to Venice in 1881 to join his father’s business. See Cahn, "Romanesque Sculpture in American Collections, VII. New York and New Jersey," <em>Gesta </em>X, no. 1 (1971): 49-50; Sarah Abrevaya Stein, <em>Plumes: Ostrich Feathers, Jews, and a Lost World of Global Commerce </em>(New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008), 95-96; Rachel Simon, "Arbib family," in <em>Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World Online</em>, ed. Norman A. Stillman, Brill Publishers, http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1878- 9781_ejiw_SIM_0002200; and "Cav Salvatore Arbib," The British Museum Collection Online Search, https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG64639.</p&gt; <p>[3] Walter Cahn states that the Archangel Gabriel relief was offered for sale in 1921 by Publio Podio, and that Podio said he had purchased it in Venice. See Cahn, "Romanesque Sculpture in American Collections, VII. New York and New Jersey," 49-50. Although Cahn does not provide a name of the party from whom Podio acquired the sculpture, Nerio Artioli claims that all four of the reliefs later with Georges J. DeMotte were owned by the Venetian dealer Albino Cesana before being sold to Podio. See Artioli, "Sei Dicusse Formelle di un Ignoto Maestro Romanico," 205.</p> <p>[4] Walter Cahn writes that Podio was a Florentine dealer, whereas Nerio Artioli asserts that Podio was Bolognese. See Cahn, "Romanesque Sculpture in American Collections, VII. New York and New Jersey," 49-50; Artioli, "Sei Dicusse Formelle di un Ignoto Maestro Romanico," 205. Preliminary research into other objects that passed through Podio appears to corroborate that he primarily lived and worked in Bologna, but confirmation is needed. See, for example, https://collections.mfa.org/objects/32736, https://www.lombardiabeniculturali.it/archivi/unita/MIUD101BB2/, and https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/436732. It remains uncertain if Podio is one and the same as the Publio Podio who started an art restoration business in Rome in the mid-nineteenth century that was continued by his sons Decio, Luigi, and Enrico. See https://catalogo.beniculturali.it/detail/PhotographicHeritage/0800633979. An auction catalogue found that has not yet been consulted might be for the liquidiation of Podio’s collection in May 1937 at Galleria Pesaro, Milan, and provide more answers. See http://catalogo.fondazionezeri.unibo.it/scheda/catalogodasta/8143/Galle…% 3E%2C%2010051937.</p>