CESARE LAPINI (ITALIAN ,1848-1893) AND EDUARDO DEL SANTA (ITALIAN, FL LATE 19TH CENTURY): A FINE MATCHED PAIR OF WHITE MARBLE BUSTS OF ORIENTALIST MAIDENS the Lapini Odalisque depicted smiling with downcast eyes, wearing a headdress with Greek key border and tassels, her hair falling in loose waves, a decorative necklace and low drapery around her bust, signed to the reverse 'C. Lapini / Firenze 1889', on a cylindrical spreading socle, the second bust signed 'E. Del Santa Galleria Bazzanti Firenze', also depicting an Arab beauty, her hair arranged in two plaits beneath a headdress decorated with a dove, wearing a similar necklace, her breast exposed,  67cm and 66cm high respectively, (2) For a similar bust by C. Lapini sold at auction see Sotheby's, London, 6 December 2011, lot 102. For a marble figure by Del Santa see Bonhams, London, 5 July 2012, lot 155.  Professeore Cesare Lapini is widely regarded as one of the key figures in Italian late 19th century sculpture. The present bust by Lapini forms a pleasing pair with that by Del Santa, who was working in the same artistic circle as Lapini in Florence during the 1890's. Both sculptors are known to have exhibited at the Galleria Bazzanti, evidenced by the inscription to the reverse of Del Santa's bust and by the numerous works by Lapini that are similarly inscribed. For example the large marble group of Venus and Cupid signed 'Gallery / P. Bazzanti / Florence / Profe C Lapini ' that was sold at Christie's London, 11 March 2015, lot 130 (£27,500). The Galleria Bazzanti was initially established as a marble carving workshop in 1822 by Pietro Bazzanti's father Niccolo. By the end of the 19th century the gallery had become a prestigious retail space offering marble sculptures by only the most talented and renowned sculptors of the day, such as Lapini, Ferdinando Vichi and Guglielmo Pugi, as well as displaying Pietro Bazzanti's own pieces. Many of Bazzanti's works also feature this inscription.