After a year of restoration work, the masterpiece by Arturo Martini, L’amante morta (The dead lover) has been brought back to its original splendor.
L’amante morta was sculpted in 1921 by Arturo Martini, who is considered one of the greatest sculptors of the 20th century. It depicts the pain and feelings of inner death of a woman abandoned by her lover; a mirror and a book with a flower between the pages lie, forgotten, on her knees. The statue conveys the sentiment of a love that has ended and a promise that was betrayed .
Made of painted terra cotta, it represents a contemporary version of elements of Etruscan and classical sculpture. It is remarkable both for the subject depicted and the technique used.
The statue can now be admired at Villa Necchi Campiglio in Milan, an impressive but little known residence built in the 1930s by architect Piero Portaluppi for Angelo Campiglio and Nedda Necchi Gigina, a bourgeois family in Milan. The villa is considered a model of 20th-century villa style for its unique beauty and level of preservation.
The villa is enriched by several works of art; the statue of L’amante morta is certainly the most valuable.
