Putti Playing

The two groups symbolise the elements Air and Fire: in the first one, the putti have quivers and a bird-cage, and are resting on a cloud; in the second, they are on a base of rocks and tree trunks with an ea-glet and a torch. These two works are the preliminary models for a metal group that was to be placed in the “Regio Giardino”, the Royal Gardens of Turin. The design submitted by Francesco Ladatte, Charles Emmanuel III of Savoy’s “scultore in bronzi” was rejected by the patrons in favour of a design for the Fountain of the Seasons which was made a few years later by Simone Martinez. The other two elements, Water and Earth, which are the property of the Galleria Sabauda are on loan to the Italian Embassy in Paris.