Model for Monument to Nicola Demidoff

The precious model here on display is the first marble scale model made by Lorenzo Bartolini, after numerous graphic studies, for the great funeral monument in honour of the noble Russian patron Nicolai Demidoff, who died in 1828. This work, commissioned by his sons Pavel and Anatoly as early as 1830, has a troubled history. In fact, it lasted for a long time becoming a very demanding undertaking in the sculptor's career, who worked at it until his death, leaving it unfinished.
The model, made of alabaster, white and rosé marble, has a pyramid structure with dedicatory writings: “NICOLAS DEMIDOFF/OFFERT par L’AUTEUR LE I JANVIER 1837”, and the Demidoff coat of arms. 
At the top, Nicolai Demidoff, sitting, embraces his son Anatoly, a young man standing next to him. Toward the right, a woman kneels, an allegory of Gratitude - whose preparatory chalk can also be seen on the museum’s third floor. At the bottom, however, in the four corners of the base, four allegorical figures impersonate the noble’s beneficial virtues. These include: Siberia, in the role of a woman holding a mining hammer in her left hand and holding Pluto Child in the other, recalls the wealth coming from the excavations of the mines; the Mercy, which supports a dying boy and covers a girl with her cloak, an allusion to the generosity of the Demidoff family toward the poor; the Truth that is revealed to art, symbol of the protection offered to the figurative arts; The Muse of pleasures, in memory of the numerous banquets given by the prince.
The funeral monument was completed in 1871 by Pasquale Romanelli, a pupil of Lorenzo Bartolini, and placed on Lungarno Serristori, in Piazza Demidoff. There is another slightly larger version of this model, made of Carrara marble, which is dated 1840 and is preserved in Florence at Palazzo Pitti. The work on display here, however, remained the property of Demidoff until 1933, when it passed to the Pucci brothers. From them, it was purchased by the Municipality of Prato to enrich the city's collections.