{"id":877754,"date":"2026-10-10T19:12:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-10T19:12:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/877754\/"},"modified":"2026-10-10T19:12:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-10T19:12:12","slug":"lost-italian-statue-by-trevi-fountain-artist-discovered-in-salvage-yard-among-the-garden-ornaments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/877754\/","title":{"rendered":"Lost Italian Statue by Trevi Fountain Artist Discovered in Salvage Yard Among the Garden Ornaments"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>        <img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-241925\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Model-detail-by-Baroque-master-Pietro-Bracci-of-Pope-Clement-XII-circa-1736-Woolley-and-Wallis-SWNS..jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1400\" height=\"752\"\/>Model by Baroque master Pietro Bracci depicting Pope Clement XII (circa 1736) Woolley &amp; Wallis \/ SWNS<\/p>\n<p>A Roman artifact from the Italian sculptor responsible for the Trevi Fountain was discovered in a reclamation yard for a mere 300 British pounds ($400).<\/p>\n<p>The 27-inch-tall (68cm) model was fashioned by Pietro Bracci as a pitch for a giant bronze sculpture of Pope Clement XII, which was commissioned by the Roman Senate to commemorate the pope\u2019s donation to the Capitoline Museums.<\/p>\n<p>While the final full-sized bronze was tragically melted down for scrap metal 60 years later, Bracci\u2019s presentation \u2018maquette\u2019 made of marble\u2014believed to have been completed in the 1730s\u2014quietly survived.<\/p>\n<p>Shipped back to a country estate in England, it fell out of favor and was moved outdoors to become a common garden ornament.<\/p>\n<p>Seeing it sitting among hundreds of architectural cast-offs, a builder with a sharp eye for antiquities spotted its quality in the salvage yard in Wiltshire and took a chance that he may have found a treasure.<\/p>\n<p>It was was put up for auction yesterday<a href=\"https:\/\/www.woolleyandwallis.co.uk\/news\/news\/baroque-master-s-maquette-discovered\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"> by Woolley &amp; Wallis<\/a> after it was estimated to fetch between $6,600 to $13,300 because of its uniqueness, and artist\u2019s signature.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-241924\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/300-year-old-model-by-Baroque-master-Pietro-Bracci-of-Pope-Clement-XII-circa-1736-Woolley-and-Wallis.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1000\" height=\"753\"  \/>300-year-old model by Baroque master Pietro Bracci of Pope Clement XII (circa 1736) Woolley &amp; Wallis \/ SWNS<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s an exceptionally exciting discovery,\u201d said the auction house\u2019s furniture specialist Mark Yuan Richards.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo have a rare eighteenth-century marble figure of Pope Clement XII by Pietro Bracci come to light, and now be offered for sale, is a remarkable opportunity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBracci was one of the great sculptors of eighteenth-century Rome, and this extraordinary survivor offers a tangible connection to the world of the papal court and the artistic splendor of the period.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>(The sale price <a href=\"https:\/\/www.woolleyandwallis.co.uk\/departments\/furniture-works-of-art-clocks\/af081026\/?s=40&amp;v=list&amp;q=Bracci&amp;p=1#lot-355\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">should be posted here<\/a> by the auction house soon.)<\/p>\n<p>SHARE THE AMAZING DISCOVERY With Art Lovers On Social Media\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Model by Baroque master Pietro Bracci depicting Pope Clement XII (circa 1736) Woolley &amp; Wallis \/ SWNS A&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":877755,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[369189,1029,228,226,227,229,88,20267,473,6801,13708],"class_list":["post-877754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-antique","tag-art","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-found","tag-history","tag-italy","tag-sculpture"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/877754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=877754"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/877754\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/877755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=877754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=877754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=877754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}