Fortunato Gory (Florence 1869 ca.- Paris 1925), Oriental Dancer Marble and bronze, h. 58 cm. Period: early 20th century. The sculpture depicts a dancer in oriental clothing, sculpted in a dance movement. The elegant female figure is covered in an elaborate gilded garment consisting of a dress that the artist has managed to render very light on the body, cinched at the waist by a band with dotted decorations and a belt with coin-shaped pendants, typical of oriental dances; the chest is also covered by a shrug with floral ornaments. The costume is completed by low shoes with curled toes and a large headdress featuring decorative engravings and the coin motif present on the belt. The sculpture rests on a base made of fine veined marble. This type of sculpture fits into the large variety of small Art Nouveau sculptures that depicted ballerinas in their sumptuous costumes engaged in a dance step. In particular, Gory manages to give his ballerinas great elegance. BIOGRAPHY Fortunato Gori, also known as Affortunato Gory, was born in Florence around April 14, 1869. He received his artistic training at the Academy of Fine Arts in his city under the guidance of the master Augusto Rivalta. He initially worked in Florence as a sculptor, then moved to Paris, where he was a pupil of the sculptor Victiorien Bastet. He began to exhibit his works at the Salon des Beaux Arts from 1902, continuing in subsequent years. His sculptures started from a more Italian-style neoclassical style, particularly in small-scale nudes, to arrive in Paris with a more properly French style in line with the artistic movements of the early twentieth century such as Art Nouveau and Art Deco, of which he became a prominent artist. The works were characterized by an elegant combination of materials that made the sculpture sparkle. Gory combined marble, alabaster and ivory for the body with bronze, ceramic or zinc for the clothes and decorations. He was widely appreciated by collectors both in his time and in contemporary times for the quality and elegance of his works. His activity, however, was interrupted by his death in Paris in 1925. To date, Gory is present in both public and private collections, including at the Musée du Chateau Dufresne in Canada and the Musée Louis Senlecq in France.