Ercole che lotta con il Centauro: un'aggiunta al catalogo di Giovanni Baratta con una digressione sulla collezione Guerrini

The article presents an unpublished terracotta of Hercules and Nessus in the Acton collection at Villa La Pietra, near Florence, and suggests it should be attributed to Giovanni Baratta. After reconsidering the artist’s Florentine period, when Baratta was hosted by the Guerrini family, the author proposes that this small terracotta group is the sculpture listed in the 1729 inventory of the family’s palazzo in the Via dei Tintori. The explicit reference to Sebastiano Ricci’s fresco in the salone of the Palazzo Marucelli (1706-1707) brings the relationship between Ricci and Baratta into focus, proving the derivation of the sculptor’s models from the work of the Venetian painter. Further evidence of this appears in the fact that Baratta’s stuccoes in the same rooms are based on Ricci’s drawings, reflecting an effort to convey the warmth of Venetian painting in three dimensions.