Giovanni De Martino "Turkey Keeper" Patinated Bronze, Neapolitan, c. 1900 View Watchlist >
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Lot # F1117
System ID # 29821168
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Giovanni De Martino "Turkey Keeper" Patinated Bronze, Neapolitan, c. 1900
A patinated cast bronze genre group by Giovanni De Martino (Naples, 1870–1935), depicting a smiling young boy in a pith-style hat carrying a turkey under one arm, a second turkey fanning its tail at his feet. The figures rest on a naturalistic rocky integral base, the whole mounted on a black-and-white veined marble plinth. The composition carries real sculptural momentum — the boy mid-stride, one bird tucked tight against his body, the other displaying behind him — a study in motion and rural play that typifies De Martino's veristic eye. The bronze is signed on the base.
De Martino was a recognized Neapolitan salon sculptor who built his reputation on tender, closely observed scenes of Southern Italian peasant life — children, animals, and everyday labor rendered with warmth rather than sentimentality. He exhibited at the major Italian salons of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and the turkey subject here reflects the agricultural rhythms of rural Campania. The confirmed authorship places this work above the field of anonymous Italian genre bronzes, and the original dark brown patina with age-appropriate verdigris marks it as an unrestored example.
Significance & Rarity
De Martino is a documented name with an established auction record. Comparable bronze genre figures — children with animals, Neapolitan subjects — have sold at auction in the $800–$2,500 range depending on size, subject, and signature legibility, with retail asking prices for similar-scale Italian veristic bronzes running higher. The double-subject composition and intact original surface support the upper end of that range.
CONDITION
Good with age-appropriate wear. Original dark brown patina with verdigris throughout, consistent with an unrestored example. A flea-bite chip to the front left corner of the marble plinth.
DIMENSIONS / SPECIFICATIONS
- Overall: 12 3/4" W × 10" D × 7 1/4" H
- Weight: 13 lbs
- Materials: Cast patinated bronze on veined marble plinth
- Marble plinth: approx. 3/4" thick
- Signed on bronze base (partially legible)
- Campbell's Soup Can (4" H) Shown for Scale — Not Included
