1850s Figurative Sculptures

Artist: Jack Graves III (American, 1988-) Title: "Apollo Sculpture" Series: Sculpture *Signed, titled, and dated by Graves on bottom Year: 2022 Mediu...

Profundus Bronze Sculpture Nude Boy Contemporary Male Figure Marble Stone Wim van der Kant (1949, Kampen) is a selftaught artist. Next to his busy p...

Signed and dated: ‘F. Harwood Fecit 1764’ Collections: Probably commissioned by Alexander Gordon, 4th Duke of Gordon (1743-1827); Probably by descent at Gordon Castle, Banffshire to c.1948; Possibly acquired by Bert Crowther of Syon Lodge, Middlesex; Jacques Hollander (1940-2004); Christie’s, 5 December 2013, lot 101; Private collection; Sotheby’s, 2 July 2019, lot 106 Literature: John Preston Neale, Views of the seats of noblemen and gentlemen, in England, Wales and Scotland, London, 1822, vol.I, unpaginated. This marble copy of an ancient bust in the Musei Capitolini usually identified as Faustina the Younger, the daughter of Antoninus Pius and future wife of Marcus Aurelius, was made in Florence by Francis Harwood in 1764. Harwood was one of the most prolific suppliers of decorative marbles for the Grand Tour market and this finely worked example demonstrates the quality of luxury goods available to travellers to Italy. So often anonymous, this unusually signed and dated example, raises questions about the status of marble copies in the period and of sculptors such as Harwood who are known principally for ornamental work. Harwood’s origins remain obscure. He is documented living in Palazzo Zuccari with Joshua Reynolds and the Irish sculptor Simon Vierpyl at Easter 1752, he had certainly settled permanently in Florence by the following year, when he is recorded working with Joseph Wilton. He was admitted to the Florentine Academy on 12 January 1755 (as pittore Inglese, although he was described as scultore in the matriculation account). After Wilson returned to England in 1755 Harwood appears to have worked in a studio near SS. Annunziata with Giovanni Battista Piamontini who had made life-size copies of The Wrestlers and The Listening Slave for Joseph Leeson in 1754. In 1758 both sculptors were contracted to make a statue and a trophy to complete the decoration of the Porta San Gallo, Harwood completing a statue of Equality, installed the following year. By 1760 Harwood was on the brink of his most productive period as a sculptor, producing copies of celebrated antiquities for the ever-increasing audience of Grand Tour travellers and for the domestic market in London. In 1761 Harwood met the young architect James Adam who was in Italy specifically to make contact with suppliers for Robert Adam’s burgeoning practice back in Britain. The Adams offered a remarkably cohesive design package to their clients, encompassing not just architecture, but fixtures, fittings and furniture as well. Harwood was able to supply the brothers with marbles for their new interiors. At Syon, for example, Harwood produced a full-size copy of Michelangelo’s Bacchus for the new dining room the Adams had designed for Hugh Smythson, 1st Duke of Northumberland. Harwood seems to have also specialised in producing sets of library busts. In 1758 Charles Compton, 7th Earl of Northampton, a distinguished traveller commissioned a set of busts which remain in situ at Castle Ashby in Northamptonshire. It is perhaps no coincidence that the Adam brothers were producing designs for new interiors at Castle Ashby at this date. The set included representations of: Cicero, Julius Caesar, Marcus Aurelius, Faustina the Younger, Sappho, Seneca and Homer. Each of these busts Harwood seems to have replicated for multiple patrons, another Adam patron, Thomas Dundas...

Carved in the green marble know as verde prato, by a Florentine sculptor of the XX century this grand tour version of the Leone "Marzocco" is an exquisite example of elegance and her...

Antique Sacristy Door with Skull and Crossbones - Italy, 17th Century Exceptional wooden vestry door, dating from the 17th century, from Italy. This unique piece was originally used...

19th Century Italian School Grand Tour Bronze Sculpture of Dionysus, 19th Century Bronze with black-green patination 24 x 10 x 10 inches Dionysus, in Greco-Roman religion, a nature ...

White marble sculpture - The Kiss. ​​19th century. 15 x 20 x h 20 cm including base, 12 x 17 x h 18 cm excluding base. Entirely in white marble, some small breaks and repairs. - ...

French Mid 20th Century ceramic figure of a man in Sang de Boeuf, oxblood red, glaze presented on a metal 'tige' and marble base. The sculpture is not signed but was purchased from ...

18th/19th Century Italian Infant Hercules Wrestling a Snake Alabaster 18 x 18 x 6 inches 40 lb. In Greek mythology, the infant Hercules (Heracles) is famously depicted wrestling wit...

After Antonio Canova (Italian, 1757-1822) Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss Marble 24 x 19 x 16 inches 135 lb. The love affair between Cupid and Psyche is one of the best known classic...

Ercole Rosa (Italian, 1846 - 1893) Frine (Phryne) Marble Signed 'E. Rosa, Studio O. Andreoni, Roma' on back 34.5 x 12 x 10 inches 80 lb. Phryne was a 4th century BC famous Greek ...

A good antique Italian Grand Tour Bronze and marble bust of Dante Alighieri, circa 1880. The bronze is most likely Florentine and mod...