18th century Venetian school. Pair of young Africans. Pair of busts in black and white marble. (Worn epidermis). Height 54.4 cm on sea-green marble pedestals and stepped square bases in green marble and gilt bronze. Provenance : - Private collection; - Avec Steinitz, Paris, May 2010. Depicting two young Africans, this pair of busts in black and white marble on green marble pedestals is part of the Venetian decorative movement of the second half of the 18th century. From the 17th century onwards, the tradition of "African" or "slave" figures spread throughout the Italian and European courts. In Rome in the first quarter of the 17th century, Nicolas Cordier's Borghese Moor for Cardinal Scipione Borghese was a great success. The vogue for the Moor continued with the creation of Baroque monuments, such as the funerary monument to Doge Giovanni Pesaro in the Basilica of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari in Venice, for which Melchior Barthel created four African atlatls in black and white marble. The craze for "Moorish" subjects was also to be found in the curiosity cabinets of lovers of the exotic. Far removed from the idealised Baroque and naturalistic busts of 17th-century artists, our pair of busts in polychrome marble is a perfect example of this 18th-century Venetian decorative production. Expert : Cabinet LACROIX & JEANNEST