Early 1800s Figurative Sculptures

Tête de Faune, Picasso, Unique work, 1960's, Terracotta, Tiles, Design, Sculptur Tête de faune Unique work 14.03.1961 Painted and glazed terracotta tile...

A fine & large (34" tall) antique French gilt-bronze on marble column of Diana, cast by Ferdinand Barbedienne (1810-1892) after a statue by Jean Antoine Houdon (1741-1828), the bronz...

This remarkably fluid terracotta bozetto was made in preparation for Pietro Pacilli’s most important public commission, a large-scale marble statue of San Camillo de Lellis for the nave of St Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Expressively modelled, this terracotta sculpture is a rare and significant work made by a major Roman sculptor at a transformative moment of European sculpture. Pacilli began his working life on the great Baroque decorative projects initiated in the seventeenth century, but he found success as a restorer of ancient sculpture working to finish antiquities for a tourist market, becoming an important figure in the emergence of an archaeologically minded Neoclassicism. Pacilli trained Vincenzo Pacetti and provided important decorative work for the Museo Pio-Clementino, at the same time he is recorded restoring some of the most celebrated antiquities excavated and exported during the period. Pacilli was born into a family of Roman craftsmen, his father Carlo was a wood carver, and Pacilli is recorded working with him on the Corsini Chapel in San Giovanni Laternao as early as 1735. In 1738 his terracotta model of Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife won the first prize in the second class of the sculpture concorso at the Accademia di San Luca, this is particularly notable as Bartolomeo Cavaceppi came third. He worked as a carver and stuccoist completing works for the churches of San Marco and SS. Trinita dei Domeniciani Spagnoli. Pacilli operated as a sculptor and restorer of antiquities from his studio at the top of the Spanish Steps, close to Santa Trinita dei Monti, where he is listed as a potential vendor to the Museo Pio-Clementino in 1770. In 1763 Pacilli completed a silver figure of San Venanzio for the treasury of San Venanzio. He is recorded as Pacetti’s first master and it was evidently through Pacilli that he began to acquire his facility as a restorer of ancient sculpture. Pacilli, at his studio ‘poco prima dell’Arco della Regina alla Trinita dei Monti,’ exercised, what the nineteenth-century scholar, Adolf Michaelis called ‘rejuvenating arts’ on several important pieces of classical sculpture, including in 1760 the group of a Satyr with a Flute for the natural brother of George III, General Wallmoden, Hanovarian minister at Vienna. In 1765, Dallaway and Michaelis record that Pacilli was responsible for the restorations, including the addition of a new head, to the Barberini Venus which he had acquired from Gavin Hamilton. The Venus was then sold to Thomas Jenkins, who in turn passed it on to William Weddell at Newby Hall. In 1767 Pacilli exported a series of ancient busts ‘al naturale’ including portraits of Antinous, Julius Ceaser and Marus Aurelius, also a statue of a Muse and a Venus. As early as 1756 Pacilli seems to have been operating as an antiquarian, helping to disperse the collection of the Villa Borrioni. Pacilli supplied sculpture to notable British collectors, including Charles Townley, who on his first trip to Italy purchased the Palazzo Giustiniani statue of Hecate from Pacilli. Pacilli was involved with the Museo Pio Clementino from its conception, supplying busts of Julius Ceaser and a Roman Woman as well as completing stucco putti surmounting the arms of Pope Bendedict XIV to signal the entrance to the new Museo Critiano. In 1750 Il Diario Ordinario del Chracas announced that Pacilli had begun work on a sculpture of San Camillo de Lellis for St Peter’s. Camillo de Lellis founded his congregation, the Camillians, with their distinctive red felt crosses stitched on black habits in 1591. Having served as a soldier in the Venetian army, Camillo de Lellis became a novitiate of the Capuchin friars, he moved to Rome and established a religious community for the purpose of caring for the sick. In 1586 Pope Sixtus V formerly recognised the Camillians and assigned them to the Church of Santa Maria Maddalena in Rome. Camillo de Lellis died in 1614 and was entombed at Santa Maria Maddalena, he was canonised by Benedict XIV on June 26, 1746. It was an occasion that prompted the Camillians to make a number of significant artistic commissions, including two canvases by Pierre Subleyras showing episodes from San Camillo’s life which they presented to Benedict XIV. In 1750 Pacilli was commissioned to fill one of the large niches on the north wall of the nave with a sculpture of San Camillo. The present terracotta bozetto presumably had two important functions, to enable Pacilli to work out his ideas for the finished sculpture and at the same time to show his design to the various commissioning bodies. In this case it would have been Cardinal Alessandro Albani and Monsignor Giovan Francesco Olivieri, the ‘economo’ or treasurer of the fabric of St Peter’s. Previously unrecorded, this terracotta relates to a smaller, less finished model which has recently been identified as being Pacilli’s first idea for his statue of San Camillo. Preserved in Palazzo Venezia, in Rome, the terracotta shows San Camillo with his left hand clutching his vestments to his breast; the pose and action more deliberate and contained than the finished sculpture. In producing the present terracotta Pacilli has expanded and energised the figure. San Camillo is shown with his left hand extended, his head turned to the right, apparently in an attempt to look east down the nave of St Peter’s. The model shows Pacilli experimenting with San Camillo’s costume; prominently on his breast is the red cross of his order, whilst a sense of animation is injected into the figure through the billowing cloak which is pulled across the saint’s projecting right leg. The power of the restrained, axial contrapposto of bent right leg and outstretched left arm, is diminished in the final sculpture where a baroque fussiness is introduced to the drapery. What Pacilli’s terracotta demonstrates, is that he conceived the figure of San Camillo very much in line with the immediate tradition of depicting single figures in St Peter’s; the rhetorical gesture of dynamic saint, arm outstretched, book in hand, head pointed upwards was perhaps borrowed from Camillo Rusconi’s 1733 sculpture of St. Ignatius...

This Peasant resting is a subject that is included in the famous suite commonly called "little workers" by Jules Dalou (1838-1902) Bronze with nuanced dark brown patina cast by Suss...

This Hay binder is a subject that is included in the famous suite commonly called "little workers" by Jules Dalou (1838-1902) Bronze with dark brown patina cast by Susse Frères - st...

This paver is a subject that is included in the famous suite commonly called "little workers" by Jules Dalou (1838-1902) Bronze with dark brown patina cast by Susse Frères - stamped...

"Suzanne Surprise" by Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux (1827-1875) Terra cotta "Propriété Carpeaux" Marked with the stamp ‘Propriété Carpeaux’ with the Imperial Eagle and the stamp 'Atelier ...

Very rare Art Deco three dimensional terracotta sculpture of Adam and Eve by the Austrian artist, Virgil Rainer. Hand painted by the artist. Signed bott...

An extraordinary depiction of friendship and comfort by Polish Jewish sculptor Michal Michael Milberger. Milberger was born in Warsaw in 1922. His artis...

Bust of a young woman wearing a shawl by Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse (1824-1887) Terracotta bust Raised on a in blackened wood pedestal signed "A. Carrier " France circa 1860 total height 41 cm width 24 cm depth 17 cm Biography : Albert-Ernest Carrier de Belleuse known as Carrier-Belleuse (1824-1887) was one of the most prolific artists of the century and had the greatest successes under the Second Empire, enjoying the personal support of Napoleon III. His work was greatly influenced by the style of the Italian Renaissance and that of the 18th century, which he helped to bring up to date. In 1837, the young Carrier-Belleuse apprenticed in the workshop of the engraver Bauchery. He was admitted soon after to the goldsmith Jacques Henri Fauconnier. Through François Arago, he met the sculptor David d'Angers who facilitated his admission to the School of Fine Arts. Carrier-Belleuse entered it in 1840. Noted for his skill by the great bronze companies in Paris such as Barbedienne and Denière, he soon received numerous orders for models for candelabras, pendulums, fittings for fireplaces, etc. In 1848, probably at the initiative of François Arago, who became head of state, he received his first public order for a small statue of "Mademoiselle Rachel singing La Marseillaise". In 1851, he appeared for the first time at the Salon of French Artists, where he presented two bronze medallions. From 1851 to 1855, Carrier-Belleuse stayed in England, in Stoke-on-Trent where he served as director of the modeling and drawing school of the Minton house, a large porcelain manufacturer. Back in France, Carrier-Belleuse moved to Paris in a large workshop located 15 rue de la Tour d´Auvergne. From 1857, he made regular sendings to the Salon and became famous thanks to the success of large marbles, such as the "Bacchante" exhibited at the Salon in 1863, and acquired by Napoleon III, "Angelica" (1866) or even "Hebe asleep" (1869). At the Salon of 1867, his group entitled "Messiah" earned him the medal of honor of sculpture. It was acquired by the State to adorn the Chapel of the Virgin in the Saint-Vincent-de-Paul church. Carrier-Belleuse acquired a great reputation in parallel for his terracotta busts which, in many respects, recall those of 18th century artists. He made portraits of a large number of celebrities of his time. He produced, among others, the busts of Napoleon III, Renan, Thiers, Grévy, Arago, Marguerite Bellanger, Théophile Gautier, Honoré Daumier, Delacroix, Hortense Schneider, Réjane… He also modelled numerous busts of mythological inspiration and historical and artistic portraits like Marie Stuart...

Equestrian sculpture "Roman driver on his chariot" by Emmanuel Fremiet (1824-1910) Bronze with its original nuanced dark brown patina cast by MORE France circa 1880 height 41,5 cm l...

This Peasant resting is a subject that is included in the famous suite commonly called "little workers" by Jules Dalou (1838-1902) Bronze with nuanced dark brown patina cast by Susse Frères - stamped with the founder's seal France created around 1890 and cast after his death height 12,5 cm A similar model reproduced inJules Dalou, le sculpteur de la République, Exhibition held at the Musée du Petit Palais, Paris, 2013, page 288, n°220. Biography : Aimé-Jules Dalou, said Jules Dalou (1838-1902) was a French sculptor, born from Protestants glovers craftsmen who raised in secularism and love of the Republic. Jules Dalou was very young talented for modeling and drawing, which earned him the attention of Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, who made him entered in 1852 in the Little School, the future National School of Decorative Arts in Paris. In 1854, he was admitted to the School of Fine Arts in Paris, where he studied painting in the workshop of Abel de Pujol and sculpture in the workshop of Francisque Duret...