A Boy and Girl Playing (Allegory of Spring?)

Entry

These two groups of naked children probably represent allegories of two of the four seasons. One (shown here) shows a naked boy and a girl busy with flowers – attributes which often symbolize Spring. The other group (BK-1966-1-B) might depict Autumn, with the bow and arrow referring to the season when most hunting takes place. If this is the case, two other works, with the allegories of Winter (a boy and a girl with attributes such as a blanket and a brazier) and Summer (represented by children with, for instance, a sheaf of corn and a sickle) would have belonged in the ensemble.

The unsigned pieces were acquired by the museum in 1966 from an Amsterdam art dealer who had purchased them in England. That English provenance probably accounts in part for Leeuwenberg’s attribution, with reservations, to Michiel Emanuel Shee (c. 1695-1739), a sculptor who, according to him, came to the Netherlands from England in 1725/26.¹ However we now know Shee in fact came originally from Antwerp and had already settled in the Northern Netherlands in 1721.² On stylistic grounds, Leeuwenberg’s attribution isn’t tenable either. The idealized type of child in the groups is by no means akin to that used by Shee which was actually characterized by a somewhat plump body, squarish head and expressive face (cf. BK-1963-24).³

Since Leeuwenberg’s research, numerous allegorical groups of children have come to light that can be associated in all respects with the present ensemble.⁴ The genre, style and size correspond closely with the ensemble featured here, and the lively putti are set on similar rock formations that have been treated with a claw chisel. Unlike the set in the Rijksmuseum, most of these groups still have their original marble socle, which typically have a projecting central section and sides inlaid with panels of coloured marble.

The style of the groups of romping children testifies to their having been made in Italy in the middle or the second half of the eighteenth century. Traditionally they have been associated with Giuseppe Sanmartino (1720-1793).⁵ This prominent Neapolitan sculptor did indeed sometimes use a comparable type of child in his documented works, but his were crafted in a more naturalistic way, with expressive, convincing facial expressions and detailed, charmingly curved bodies and hair with loose curls.⁶ The large numbers that still exist of the somewhat mechanically styled, highly polished putti like the figures discussed here, and the differences in quality and style between them, would suggest that more artists were specialized in the production (in series?) of such less qualitative, decorative sculptures. At present there are too few correlations with Sanmartino’s work for a definitive ascription to his studio or circle.

Bieke van der Mark, 2025