Pomona

The Pomona exhibited here is one of the large series of voluptuous female figures representing the Roman goddess of fruit and gardens, one of the Tuscan sculptor’s favourite subjects, first addressed in 1938 at the start of his career and developed with several compositional variants. The form here is condensed and complete in itself so as to constitute a unified structure. Crucial importance attaches to Marini’s discovery of Etruscan art at the Museo Archeologico in Florence, where he unquestionably came into contact also with Egyptian art, the museum’s rich collection being second in Italy only to that of the Museo Egizio in Turin. Marini’s art is rooted in this Early Italian classicism, which gives form to its Mediterranean – if not indeed Etruscan or Tuscan – essence. As he stated, “No, I am not inspired [by Etruscan art], I am Etruscan.” (Transl. by Paul Metcalfe per Scriptum, Roma)