In a romantic and tragic vein, the sculptor Rinaldo Carnielo represents here the demise of one of the greatest composers of all time; Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who had died 86 years earlier.
In this Mozart Dying, the artist successfully combines a theatrical atmosphere and an almost macabre realism by basing his work on direct observation of the anatomy of the sick and dying in Florentine hospitals. This pronounced taste for detail, was moreover criticised by his contemporaries. In this work, Carnielo’s talent is particularly visible in the rendering of the materials; the lace of the linen shirt, the fluffy aspect of the woollen plaid or the brocade cushion.
This Florentine sculpture belongs to the Italian tradition of funeral monuments which, along with busts and religious subjects, made up a large part of the commissions entrusted to sculptors of that time.