Attributed to Melchior CAFFA or GAFÀ (1636 - 1667) Narcissus Terracotta Height : 38,5 cm (Damage, missing parts and restorations) Narcissus, terracotta, attr. to M. Caffa H. 15.15 in. Bibliography: related : Sergei Androsov, Alle Origini di Canova, Le terrecotte della collezione Farsetti, Venice, 1991, Marsilio Editori Cristiano Giometti, Museo Nazionale del Palazzo di Venezia: Sculture in terracotta, Rome, 2011, Gangemi Editore Originally from Malta, Melchior Caffa (1636-1667) left for Rome in 1658. After an apprenticeship in the workshop of Ercole Ferrata (1610-1686), he established himself at an early age as one of the great Baroque sculptors of his generation, drawing inspiration from Bernini's late style in a highly personal way. Although he took on a number of private and public commissions, his untimely death in a tragic accident in his Roman studio prevented him from achieving the same renown as other Baroque sculptors of Bernini's generation. The morphotype of our sketch is typical of Caffa's works: we can recognise the elongated body, the small head with its pointed nose and the exaggeratedly long feet. Our statuette is particularly similar to the sketch of the terracotta figure of an angel in the Farsetti collection in the Hermitage Museum (inv. 644) or the terracotta figure of St John the Baptist in the Palazzo di Venezia National Museum in Rome (inv. 10355). A thermoluminescence test carried out by the CARAA laboratory on 24/10/2024 dates our terracotta to between 1624 and 1699. Attributed to Melchior CAFFA or GAFÀ (1636 - 1667) Originally from Malta, Melchior Caffa (1636-1667) left for Rome in 1658. After an apprenticeship in the workshop of Ercole Ferrata (1610-1686), he established himself at a very early age as one of the great Baroque sculptors of his generation, drawing inspiration in a very personal way from Bernini's last style. Although he took on a number of private and public commissions, his untimely death in a tragic accident in his Roman studio prevented him from achieving the same renown as other Baroque sculptors of Bernini's generation. The morphotype of our sketch is typical of Caffa's works: we can recognise the elongated body, the small head with its pointed nose and the exaggeratedly long feet. Our statuette is particularly similar to the sketch of the terracotta figure of an angel in the Farsetti collection in the Hermitage Museum (inv. 644) or the terracotta figure of St John the Baptist in the Palazzo di Venezia National Museum in Rome (inv. 10355). A thermoluminescence test carried out by the CARAA laboratory on 24/10/2024 dates our terracotta to between 1624 and 1699.