“Piccolo Idolo” — Alberto Cabiddu, abstract limestone figure, Italy, 1996

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“Piccolo Idolo” — Alberto Cabiddu, Abstract Limestone Figure, Italy, 1996

Dimensions: H. 42 x W. 14 x D. 14 cm (H. 16.5 x W. 5.5 x D. 5.5 in)

A hauntingly reductive figure carved from soft, warm-toned limestone, “Piccolo Idolo” (Little Idol) distills the human form to its essential architecture — a slender neck-like column rising into rounded shoulders, tapering below into two solid, leg-like supports. The rough, unfinished crown of the head contrasts beautifully with the smoothly worked torso, a signature move that lets the natural, pitted texture of the stone read as both ancient artifact and modern gesture.

Alberto Cabiddu, born in Geneva in 1966, discovered sculpture after relocating to the Vicenza countryside in 1987, where he became immersed in local materials — Pietra di Vicenza limestone, marble, wood, and clay. Largely self-taught, with only informal guidance from sculptor Agostino Gallio and ceramist Antonio Visentin, Cabiddu has spent decades quietly developing a personal language of abstraction rather than promoting his work commercially, giving his pieces a rare, unmediated authenticity.

Titled to evoke the small votive idols of prehistoric and archaic cultures, this piece channels that same totemic stillness. Its dating to 1996 places it early in Cabiddu’s mature abstract period, when he was refining the pared-down, monolithic vocabulary that now defines his practice.

Piccolo Idolo will be shipped insured overseas in a custom made wooden case. Cost of transport to the US, Euro 295, is case included.

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Wear consistent with age and use.

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