GUELFO & UGOLINO della GHERARDESCA Two hanging busts representing respectively the father and his son. Bronze (lost wax?) with name inscriptions on the base of the bust and on the back. Respectively: "Vgolino Gherardesca" and "Gvelfvs Gherarsdesca". Italy, probably late 18th century. Heights: 29 and 32 cm On blackened wooden bases. (visible damages) Ugoline, a Pisan count, has gone down in history less for his political role than for the legend that he died of starvation while locked up with his sons and grandsons in the Torre della Muda. The story, immortalised by Dante in the Inferno, has fed the popular imagination, giving rise to countless paintings, sculptures and stories, in which he embodies betrayal, the cruelty of power and the tragic figure of the father devoured by hunger.