Winged putto, Venice Early 17th Workshop of Niccolò Roccatagliata,

This beautiful bronze Putto is emblematic of the work of the Italian sculptor Niccolo Roccatagliata, identified by the famous art historian Leo Planiscig as the "Master of the Putto" because of his abundant production of small, childlike protagonists in a variety of poses and devices, which made the Serenissima famous in the first quarter of the 17th century.
Born in Genoa but active mainly in Venice, Niccolò Roccatagliata (1593-1636) is famous for his prolific work in bronze. Featuring religious, allegorical and mythological subjects, he carried out numerous commissions for private use as well as for churches in the City of the Doges. On his death, his son Sebastiano Nicolini inherited his workshop and continued to publish and produce bronzes in the master's style. Our putto's thick, tightly-curled hair, heavy eyelids and plump thighs are all distinctive features of the sensual, naturalistic style of Roccatagliata and his workshop. These features are echoed in the Putto with a Drum and the Putto with a flute in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, both attributed to the Master. The firmer treatment of the flesh of our figure, as well as the more meticulous and precise treatment of his gaze, bring him even closer to a Musician Putto and a Putto carrying a torch from the old Barzanti collection, painted at the end of the 16th century in the entourage of Roccatagliata.
The rounded bellies of the dolls are delicately highlighted by a few folds of flesh, similar to those seen in our work. The Barzanti cherubs are wrapped in a fine cloth that wraps around their chubby bodies like a scarf, echoing the one worn by our putto, who is holding a section of it in his left hand in a gesture similar to that made by a fine Cupid close to the Master's work, now in the Bargello Museum in Florence.
This fine tunic, which is more elaborate than the strip of cloth in the Putti Barzanti, can be compared to the one worn by two other cherubs attributed to Roccataliagata, in the Kunsthistorisches in Vienna and the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. In these examples, the fabric opens up like a curtain, in the same way as on our cast, under the child's chest, revealing his plump belly. The firm treatment of the flesh in the Vienna Putto, the precision of its eyes and the similar arrangement of its hair make it the closest equivalent to our work. The almost identical format of the two bronzes, which are relatively large in the context of the production gathered around the Master, could designate them, like the Bargello example, as figures of andirons, a flagship production of the Venetian bronze workshops that made the reputation of Roccatagliata and his followers until the end of the 17th century.