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Lacking marble quarries, Bologna developed sculptural traditions that related on readily available materials such as clay and stucco. Even the city's painters tried their hand at clay statuettes. One such artist who occasionally practiced three-dimensional modeling was Ubaldo Gandolfi.
The figure of this statuette is theatrically presented. The pictorial setting is highly unusual for sculpture: the bearded man reading a book is sheltering within a blasted tree. Different types of clay give the statuette colour: red for the tree, pure white for the clothes, and white mixed with red for the face.
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