The Vision of Saint Hubert

St Hubert, a sixth-century aristocrat, is the patron saint of hunters. Legend has it that he converted to a life of piety while out hunting, when a crucifix suddenly appeared to him between the horns of a stag. The exquisite group in biscuit was modelled by Carlo Camillo Tamietti on the altarpiece painted by Vittorio Amedeo Rapous for the chapel of the royal hunting lodge of Stupinigi in 1768. Tamietti was the talented modeller at the Vinovo factory, which was set up in 1775 by Giovanni Vittorio Brodel, who formed a partnership the following year with Pierre-Antoine Hannong, from the famous family of Strasbourg ceramists. It is signed on the base: “Tamiat. Inve(nit): et fecit. 1778”.