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Scuola napoletana, fine XIX - inizi XX secolo

Scaramanzia napoletana

Bronze sculpture with traces of red paint, on marble base
h 32 cm


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The resulting triumph exalts in an esoteric and magical key all the apotropaic spirit of a City that makes superstition a reason for daily life, uniting the sacred and the profane in a constant game between "it's not true...but I believe it".

The horseshoe is certainly among the most emblematic symbols of this Neapolitan philosophy.

Its use of strong action against all evil has its roots in its shape which magically recalls the "moon of Isis", as well as the "female womb", and finds reason in the episode which tells of the Devil who is finally freed from the torment of a horseshoe mistakenly welded to his goat's hoof, he swore to protect from his illnesses anyone who displayed a horseshoe in his home in memory of the benefit received.

The red enamel refers to the blood of San Gennaro who, in his miracle of liquefaction, protects the city from the "Exterminator Vesevo" and from every misfortune.

€ 150,00 / 300,00
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