MATERIALS: Wood and iron ladders, adhesive print on canvas
DIMENSIONS: 201 × 50 × 313 cm
Ladder on the ground: 18.5 × 50 × 313 cm
Ladder on the wall: 201 × 32 × 10 cm
PROVENANCE: The artist
COLLECTION: Fabio Mauri Estate, Rome
CATALOGUE: O_2003_3234
Two wooden ladders arranged contiguously, one leaning against the wall, the other lying on the floor. A white bandage is wrapped around the ends of the horizontal ladder, sporting the work’s title: Giacobbe scale 1582 a.C. The reference is to the Book of Genesis (28:11-19), which tells of Jacob in a dream seeing ‘a ladder resting on the earth, the top of which touched heaven, and behold, the angels of God, ascending and descending.’ A pictorial theme from Raphael onward, Mauri’s version of Jacob’s ladder appears in the form of an object trouvé: ‘What about the ladders, step-ladders? I bought them in Milan a couple of years ago. They got here today, right now. They’re like a sign. They remind me of Jacob’s ladders. A laughing matter.’1 The work was part of the ‘Istantanea di un duca morto’ exhibition-installation (inv. 654).
1. F. Mauri in Istantanea di un duca morto, catalogue of the exhibition (Galleria Nuova icona, Venice, 2003), Venice, 2003, p. 5.
2003, Venice, Galleria Nuova Icona, Fabio Mauri. Istantanea di un duca morto, 12 June – 31 October, curated by Vittorio Urbani.
2019, Herning, Heart Museum, Fabio Mauri: The End, 23 March – 25 August, curated by Michael Bank Christoffersen.
Fabio Mauri. Istantanea di un duca morto, exhibition catalogue, Galleria Nuova Icona, Venice (Venice, 2003), p. 5.
Fabio Mauri, Io sono un ariano (Milan: Lampi di stampa, 2009), pp. 405–414 (ill.).
