Resumen de Augusto Felici, uno scultore italiano alla corte di Sayajirao III, Gaekwad di Baroda
Augusto Felici: an Italian Sculptor at the Court of Sayajirao III, Gaekwad of Baroda.
The article refocuses attention on the activity in India of the sculptor Augusto Felici (1851-1946) who moved from Venice to the court of the rajah of Baroda Sayajirao III several times between 1891 and 1896 as artistic consultant to the sovereign. The chronology is reconstructed of the cycles of statues and busts shaped by Felici to decorate the Laxmi Vilas palace, some of which look at the question of representing caste types and local ethnographies, which until then was substantially new in sculpture. Emphasis is given to how such choices related to the policy of reclaiming the autonomy of the native states from the English colonial administration promoted in that period by Sayajirao III. Emphasis is also given to the parallelism with the contemporary activity of the other main artist protected by the Baroda court, Ravi Varma, celebrated at the end of nine-teenth century for his contribution to the updating of style and iconographic choices in painting on the sub-continent.
