Although no written records of the engagement to Elena Buti have been preserved, she was one of the few people that accompanied Ridolfo during the last hours of his life. She witnessed the dying man’s will which was drafted by the friend and painter Adolf Senff (23).
The bust of Elena Buti first became known publically in 2015. Since its creation the work of art had not left Rome. In 1816, the same year he produced the marble bust of Elena (born 1797), he also produced a bust of the younger sister Vittoria (24) (Berlin, Skulpturensammlung SMB PK), who was eleven at the time. Both girls repeatedly stood model for artists from other European countries who were living in Rome at the time.
The wreath of roses appears to be the key to the interpretation of Ridolfo’s beloved. The figure of his God of Love, Cupid, also holds it in his hand. The wreath also awakens associations with the Flower Goddess, Flora. Such interpretations reflect the tendency, popular at the time, to idealise living people, especially in sculpture: The image of a person points beyond the individual, and provides an eternally valid expression of physical beauty.
Bernd Ernsting
