A Silver Bust by Giuseppe Sanmartino in Canosa Cathedral.
The essay reconstructs the history of an outstanding silver bust by Giuseppe Sanmartino through documents found in the Archivio Storico Prevostale at San Sabino di Canosa. Unfortunately, the work was stolen from the church in 1981.
As archival records indicate, the Chapter of San Sabino Cathedral commissioned Sanmartino the sculpture in 1767. As on similar occasions, the artist delivered a clay model that was cast in silver – in this case – by the Neapolitan silversmiths Francesco Manzone and his son Saverio. The sculptor had already collaborated with Manzone back in 1758 on the ‘Saint Vincent Ferrer’ for the church of San Pietro Martire at Naples (now missing), and maybe also on the ‘Saint Dominic with the dog’ for the Treasure of San Gennaro. During the second half of 18th century the remarkable demand for statues of Patron Saints, in the towns of Kingdom of Naples, gave rise to an abundant production of clay models for casting of reliquary–statues that involved Sanmartino as well as other Neapolitan sculptors.
The date of the bust, 1767, seems to indicate this work as the first of a series produced for some towns of Puglia such as Taranto, Martina Franca, Manduria, Gioia del Colle and possibly Galatina. The last sculpture of this group is the ‘San Rocco’ in Ruvo Cathedral, dated 1793 (the year of Sanmartino’s death) and cast in silver by Biagio Giordano.
