Search

A significant number of sculptures once attributed to Medardo Rosso have recently been reassigned to his son, Francesco. These objects represent a curious hybrid: Francesco, who was not an artist and was unaware of his father’s idiosyncratic processes, had these works cast by a professional foundry from Medardo’s plaster models after his death. He then sold them to collectors and museums as works by Medardo. Today, these casts, whose difference is only evident to the connoisseur, occupy an uncomfortable position within the artist’s œuvre and legacy. They generate material, aesthetic, legal, economic and philosophical questions about their identity, leading to broader issues concerning posthumous casts. Unlike Rodin, who authorized posthumous casting limited to the French State, or Degas, whose sculptures were cast posthumously without his consent, Rosso’s position on posthumous casting was contradictory, as was his heirs’ approach. A Catalogue raisonné has recently separated the casts by Medardo from those by Francesco, thereby implicitly devaluing the latter. Institutions, collectors, and dealers remain unsure whether to exhibit the posthumous works and if so, how to label them. What constitutes an “authentic” Rosso and what is the value of the posthumous cast?