Marco Ercoli - Apoteosi e l'Estasi
04
days
03
hours
51
minutes
56
seconds
Current bid
€ 50
Reserve price not met
8 other people are watching this object
 | €50 | |
|---|---|---|
 | €1 |
Catawiki Buyer Protection
Your payment’s safe with us until you receive your object.View details
Trustpilot 4.4 | 132745 reviews
Rated Excellent on Trustpilot.
Marco Ercoli, Apoteosi e l’Estasi, oil on canvas, 90 × 60 cm, 2022, hand-signed, original edition, in excellent condition, Italy, Symbolism, sold directly by the artist.
AI-assisted summary
Description from the seller
Title: Apotheosis and Ecstasy
Technique: oil on canvas,
Size: 90 × 60 cm
Year: 2022
In Apotheosis and Ecstasy, Caligula's bust is multiplied until it becomes a feverish, ritual, almost idolatrous vision. The golden faces emerge like relics or ancient statues, immersed in a dark, lush vegetation that envelops them, interrupts them, hides them. The repetition is not merely decorative; it builds a crowd of still presences, suspended between cult, delirium, and ruin.
Beeswax seems to drip from the busts: a luminous, dense, seductive substance that amplifies the ambiguous character of the image. The honey recalls gold, sweetness, offering, even a form of sacredness; but at the same time it appears viscous, excessive, almost suffocating. Its presence transforms the gilding into something alive and unstable, as if the imperial idol were melting under the weight of its own apotheosis.
The work reflects on the figure of Caligula as a symbol of power that tries to surpass the human limit. An emperor made more of vices than virtues, Caligula wished to rise to godhead, to identify with a superior force, almost with a new Sun. In this painting, however, the divine ascent becomes a troubled ecstasy: the glory becomes an illusion, the light becomes excess, gold becomes material that drips away.
The contrast between the gold-yellow of the busts and the deep green of the leaves creates an intense visual tension. The painting hums between splendor and decadence, between attraction and repulsion, between sacrality and vice. Apotheosis and Ecstasy is thus a work on the ambiguous fascination of power and its idolatrical drift: a baroque and visionary image in which the emperor, in his attempt to become a god, multiplies, consumes himself, and ends up imprisoned in his own image.
Marco Ercoli's works have passed through the Colasanti auction house:
https://www.colasantiaste.com/it/artisti/marco-ercoli-1327
The artist is listed in Arsvalue's artist catalog:
https://www.arsvalue.com/en/lots/1278322/marco-ercoli-roma-1986-albero-della-vita
Instagram page:
https://www.instagram.com/marco__ercoli/
Marco Ercoli
Artistic Curriculum
Awards and Recognitions
2024: Selected among the "222 Artists to Invest in 2024", editorial volume curated by Exibart.
2023 – Gualdo Tadino: Realization of the Palio for the 2023 edition of the "Giochi de le Porte", presented with a standing ovation at the Monumental Church of San Francesco.
2019 – Isernia: Winner of the P.A.C.I. Award, Quality Award, Auditorium Città d'Isernia.
2012 – France: Colart scholarship at the Atelier "Plessix-Madeuc".
2008 – Rome: Winner "MarteLive", Quality Award, painting section.
Solo Exhibitions
2023 – Gualdo Tadino (PG): "In Your Eyes", Museum Center - Monumental Church of San Francesco, curated by Cesare Biasini Selvaggi.
2022 – Rome: "Epimetheus", Gallery 28 Piazza di Pietra, curated by Giorgia Basili.
2021 – Massa Lubrense (NA): "Notturno", Art Hotel Villa Fiorella, curated by Giorgia Basili.
2016 – Rome: "7", Galleria Curva Pura, curated by Serena Di Giovanni.
2010 – Rome: "F(R)ame", Libreria Einaudi.
2009 – Rome: "Collection of Butterflies". Galleria Ercoli Arte Contemporanea, curated by Carlo Ercoli.
2009 – Rome: "Matter and Ego", Galleria Casina Giustiniani.
Group Exhibitions and Pavilions
2018 – Basel (Switzerland): "Sommerausstellung", Galerie Eulenspiegel.
2018 – Rome: "Profane liquid, for external use only", Studio Giga, curated by Bianca Catalano.
2015 – Rome: "Radiate", TakeawayGallery.
2015 – Fermo: Stripe Festival Art and Architecture.
2015 – Milan: Affordable Art Fair Milano (AAF), Superstudio Più, Stand E5 (White Noise Gallery).
2015 – Rome: "Any Given Post-it", White Noise Gallery.
2013 – Rome: "First Art Hotel", Galleria Muciaccia.
2012 – Rome: "Rendez-vous", Galleria ArtePerOggi.
2012 – France: "Les Atelier du Plessix-Madeuc", Abbaye St Magloire, Lehon.
2011 – Turin: Venice Biennale, Italy Pavilion.
Installations and Special Projects
2018 – Civitella D'Agliano (VT): "Agora", Permanent Installation, project 1 Artist 1 Day, Contaminazioni d'Arte.
Title: Apotheosis and Ecstasy
Technique: oil on canvas,
Size: 90 × 60 cm
Year: 2022
In Apotheosis and Ecstasy, Caligula's bust is multiplied until it becomes a feverish, ritual, almost idolatrous vision. The golden faces emerge like relics or ancient statues, immersed in a dark, lush vegetation that envelops them, interrupts them, hides them. The repetition is not merely decorative; it builds a crowd of still presences, suspended between cult, delirium, and ruin.
Beeswax seems to drip from the busts: a luminous, dense, seductive substance that amplifies the ambiguous character of the image. The honey recalls gold, sweetness, offering, even a form of sacredness; but at the same time it appears viscous, excessive, almost suffocating. Its presence transforms the gilding into something alive and unstable, as if the imperial idol were melting under the weight of its own apotheosis.
The work reflects on the figure of Caligula as a symbol of power that tries to surpass the human limit. An emperor made more of vices than virtues, Caligula wished to rise to godhead, to identify with a superior force, almost with a new Sun. In this painting, however, the divine ascent becomes a troubled ecstasy: the glory becomes an illusion, the light becomes excess, gold becomes material that drips away.
The contrast between the gold-yellow of the busts and the deep green of the leaves creates an intense visual tension. The painting hums between splendor and decadence, between attraction and repulsion, between sacrality and vice. Apotheosis and Ecstasy is thus a work on the ambiguous fascination of power and its idolatrical drift: a baroque and visionary image in which the emperor, in his attempt to become a god, multiplies, consumes himself, and ends up imprisoned in his own image.
Marco Ercoli's works have passed through the Colasanti auction house:
https://www.colasantiaste.com/it/artisti/marco-ercoli-1327
The artist is listed in Arsvalue's artist catalog:
https://www.arsvalue.com/en/lots/1278322/marco-ercoli-roma-1986-albero-della-vita
Instagram page:
https://www.instagram.com/marco__ercoli/
Marco Ercoli
Artistic Curriculum
Awards and Recognitions
2024: Selected among the "222 Artists to Invest in 2024", editorial volume curated by Exibart.
2023 – Gualdo Tadino: Realization of the Palio for the 2023 edition of the "Giochi de le Porte", presented with a standing ovation at the Monumental Church of San Francesco.
2019 – Isernia: Winner of the P.A.C.I. Award, Quality Award, Auditorium Città d'Isernia.
2012 – France: Colart scholarship at the Atelier "Plessix-Madeuc".
2008 – Rome: Winner "MarteLive", Quality Award, painting section.
Solo Exhibitions
2023 – Gualdo Tadino (PG): "In Your Eyes", Museum Center - Monumental Church of San Francesco, curated by Cesare Biasini Selvaggi.
2022 – Rome: "Epimetheus", Gallery 28 Piazza di Pietra, curated by Giorgia Basili.
2021 – Massa Lubrense (NA): "Notturno", Art Hotel Villa Fiorella, curated by Giorgia Basili.
2016 – Rome: "7", Galleria Curva Pura, curated by Serena Di Giovanni.
2010 – Rome: "F(R)ame", Libreria Einaudi.
2009 – Rome: "Collection of Butterflies". Galleria Ercoli Arte Contemporanea, curated by Carlo Ercoli.
2009 – Rome: "Matter and Ego", Galleria Casina Giustiniani.
Group Exhibitions and Pavilions
2018 – Basel (Switzerland): "Sommerausstellung", Galerie Eulenspiegel.
2018 – Rome: "Profane liquid, for external use only", Studio Giga, curated by Bianca Catalano.
2015 – Rome: "Radiate", TakeawayGallery.
2015 – Fermo: Stripe Festival Art and Architecture.
2015 – Milan: Affordable Art Fair Milano (AAF), Superstudio Più, Stand E5 (White Noise Gallery).
2015 – Rome: "Any Given Post-it", White Noise Gallery.
2013 – Rome: "First Art Hotel", Galleria Muciaccia.
2012 – Rome: "Rendez-vous", Galleria ArtePerOggi.
2012 – France: "Les Atelier du Plessix-Madeuc", Abbaye St Magloire, Lehon.
2011 – Turin: Venice Biennale, Italy Pavilion.
Installations and Special Projects
2018 – Civitella D'Agliano (VT): "Agora", Permanent Installation, project 1 Artist 1 Day, Contaminazioni d'Arte.
Details
Artist
Marco Ercoli
Sold with frame
No
Sold by
Direct from the artist
Edition
Original
Title of artwork
Apoteosi e l'Estasi
Technique
Oil painting
Signature
Hand signed
Country of origin
Italy
Year
2022
Condition
Excellent condition
Height
90 cm
Width
60 cm
Style
Symbolism
Period
2020+
Sold by
