Artwork
The Feast of the Grapes
The Feast of the Grapes is a photographic photography by Adolfo Apolloni. It dates from 1899 and is held in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum.
About this work
Overview
Adolfo Apolloni’s 1899 photograph captures a bronze group sculpture titled *The Feast of the Grapes*. The image, mounted on a green backing card, documents three muscular figures—two men and a woman—straining together to lift an overflowing basket of grapes. The composition emphasizes collective effort and physical tension.
Subject & Meaning
The sculptural scene presents three laborers engaged in a shared task, their bodies contorted in unison as they support a laden basket. The woman's curly hair and the men's bare torsos highlight the raw, unadorned human form, while the near‑spilling fruit suggests abundance and the demands of communal work.
Technique & Style
Apolloni’s photograph renders the bronze’s smooth surfaces and fine details, from the tension in the figures’ muscles to the realistic leaves spilling from the basket. The lighting accentuates the sculpture’s three‑dimensionality, allowing viewers to perceive depth and texture through the two‑dimensional medium.
History & Provenance
The print entered the William Kineton Parkes collection, a bequest made in 1938. Parkes, a novelist, art historian, and librarian with a particular interest in sculpture, gathered responses from sculptors during the 1920s via questionnaires; this photograph was among the works submitted. The collection now resides in the Archive of Art and Design.
Context
Created at the turn of the twentieth century, the work reflects a period when artists explored themes of labor and cooperation, often using classical motifs such as fruit-bearing baskets to symbolize fertility and communal effort. The photograph serves as a documentary record of this sculptural trend.
Artist & collection
Artist
Adolfo Apolloni was an Italian sculptor. He was born in Rome, in what was then the Papal States. He attended the Accademia di San Luca. He participated in the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, IL USA in 1893. He…
