Vatican Museums

This beautiful bronze, which entered the Vatican collections in 1975, depicts the daughter of the benefactor, the Roman Baroness Anita Blanc, who in 1940 asked Manzù to produce a portrait of the girl. The artist worked on the commission by alternating stays in Rome with his life in Milan. He produced sketches and preparatory works (the sanguine Study for Francesca, 1939-1949, present in the Collection, shows her nude with ballet shoes), demonstrating the various possibilities considered before arriving at the final version, in which the girl is semi-reclining, in a position of melancholy, undulating elegance, her immature sinuosity revealed but protected by her entwined legs. “I think I finished it in 1941”, the artist recalled, “happy to have produced this flower without leaves, as when faced with infantile beauty, the soul is nourished with purity”.
It was exhibited at the 1943 Rome Quadriennale, where it won the “Gran Premio” for sculpture.