The grandiose clock is a rare example of late Baroque furnishings present in Genoese homes. It was first mentioned by Federigo Alizeri in his 1875 Guida illustrativa as standing in the hall of Palazzo Spinola all’Acquasola in Genoa (now the headquarters of the Prefecture on via Roma). Back then, this was the town- house of the Lerma branch of the Marquises of Spinola. Andrea, Giovanni Battista, Antonio and Stefano, the sons of Luigi, had purchased the Palazzo in 1859 from Massimiliano Spinola, Count of Tassarolo. The four had previously resided in Palazzo Lercari Spinola. It seems probable that the furnishings, including the clock, were brought here from their former residence on via degli Orefici. This was Luigi’s family home, where their ancestor Giovanni Filippo Spinola had had some of the living rooms decorated in the very early 18th century by Domenico Parodi’s workshop. Alizeri had attributed the ornamental work to Anton Maria Maragliano, a renowned wood sculptor active in Genoa from the late 17th to early 18th centuries. The furnishings were transferred to the Spinola Castle in the Lerma fiefdom in 1876, out of reach of twentieth–century critics, but these had nevertheless accepted Alizeri’s judgement. The sculptural clock ensemble has now been tracked down and recently acquired by the Ministry of Culture for the National Gallery of Liguria at Palazzo Spinola. Father Time is depicted as revealing Truth, surrounded by zephyrs theatrically pulling on ropes to unveil the clock face from behind a curtain. Restoration and the chance of a hands on examination of the sculptural furnishings have led to them to being attributed to the design expertise of Domenico Parodi, with a strongly Roman influence in his compositions. He had inherited a multifaceted workshop from the sculptor Filippo in 1702.
D. Sanguineti, L'Orologio Spinola 'ritrovato': un capolavoro della scultura d'arredo d'età barocca per la Galleria Nazionale della Liguria
D. Sanguineti
2023-01-01
Abstract
The grandiose clock is a rare example of late Baroque furnishings present in Genoese homes. It was first mentioned by Federigo Alizeri in his 1875 Guida illustrativa as standing in the hall of Palazzo Spinola all’Acquasola in Genoa (now the headquarters of the Prefecture on via Roma). Back then, this was the town- house of the Lerma branch of the Marquises of Spinola. Andrea, Giovanni Battista, Antonio and Stefano, the sons of Luigi, had purchased the Palazzo in 1859 from Massimiliano Spinola, Count of Tassarolo. The four had previously resided in Palazzo Lercari Spinola. It seems probable that the furnishings, including the clock, were brought here from their former residence on via degli Orefici. This was Luigi’s family home, where their ancestor Giovanni Filippo Spinola had had some of the living rooms decorated in the very early 18th century by Domenico Parodi’s workshop. Alizeri had attributed the ornamental work to Anton Maria Maragliano, a renowned wood sculptor active in Genoa from the late 17th to early 18th centuries. The furnishings were transferred to the Spinola Castle in the Lerma fiefdom in 1876, out of reach of twentieth–century critics, but these had nevertheless accepted Alizeri’s judgement. The sculptural clock ensemble has now been tracked down and recently acquired by the Ministry of Culture for the National Gallery of Liguria at Palazzo Spinola. Father Time is depicted as revealing Truth, surrounded by zephyrs theatrically pulling on ropes to unveil the clock face from behind a curtain. Restoration and the chance of a hands on examination of the sculptural furnishings have led to them to being attributed to the design expertise of Domenico Parodi, with a strongly Roman influence in his compositions. He had inherited a multifaceted workshop from the sculptor Filippo in 1702.
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