Unknown

19th Century SculptureTorso Hercules Farnese Italian White Marble

after 1800

The Sculpture Torso with well highlighted muscles would seem in line with the figures of the athletes, It is a naked figure who rests his weight on his left leg with a slight inclina...

An important and impressive sculpture portrait of Giulia Domna after the bust at the Vatican Museum, carved in a rare and specimen marble named Marmor Taenarium, an ornamental stone used by Roman and characterized by a bright red background, with tones varying from pink to purple, sometimes associated in the same find. There are often black veins a few millimeters wide and with a sub-parallel trend, or greyish-white spots of millimeter to centimeter size, or more rarely greyish-white stripes a few centimeters wide and sub-parallel. Julia Domna was Roman empress from 193 to 211 as the wife of Emperor Septimius Severus. She was the first empress of the Severan dynasty. Domna was born in Emesa (present-day Homs) in Roman Syria to an Arab family[2] of priests of the deity Elagabalus. In 187, she married Severus, who at the time was governor of the Roman province of Gallia Lugdunensis. They had two sons, Caracalla and Geta. A civil war over the Roman throne...

Pietro Bazzanti - Barzanti (Italian, 1825-1895) "After the Bath" - A very Fine and large carved white Carrara marble figure of a semi-nude young maiden standing by the sea-shore. The smiling and posing young beauty, with bare breasts and back, her right arm juxtaposed over her head, while holding a blanket over her waist with her left hand and standing barefoot by a rocky seawall and wavy shoreline. Signed 'P. Barzanti/Florence' (on reverse) and raised on a cylindrical swiveling carved verde antico solid marble pedestal. circa: Florence, 1880-1890. Pietro Bazzanti or Barzanti (Italian, 1825-1895) was a 19th Century Italian sculptor born in Florence. Together with his brother, Niccolò Bazzanti (Firenze, 1802-1869) who was also a sculptor, they both worked the sprawling Florentine studio 'Pietro Bazzanti e Figlio' a hugely successful sculpture studio, operated within the family at their gallery on Lungarno Corsini until the mid-twentieth century. The studio was a place where many talented professors and apprentice sculptors specialized in sculpting marble genre scenes and allegorical figures as well as copies of antique and Renaissance sculpture catered to a prominent international clientele which included European and Russian aristocracy, and the Industrial fortunes being made in England and Americas drove considerable export demand. In 1861 the studio was awarded the medal for 'Ercole con cinghiale sulla spalla' (Hercules with boar on shoulder), 'Due Cani' (Two dogs) and 'Cinghiale' (Boar) sculptures at the National Exposition in Florence. In 1874 he exhibits his works in London and in 1876 in Philadelphia. Bazzanti frequently returned to the subject of 'After the Bath' or 'The Bather' in his works, having carved examples of the bathing Venus after the Antique and in dynamic and dramatic compositions such as the present sculpture. The finely-detailed work relates closely to popular figures produced by Bazzanti’s contemporary, Cesar Lapini, whose La Sopresa depicts a young woman stepping back from approaching waves. The sculptor’s penchant for realism is on full display with the contrasting matte and highly-polished finishes of the gently lapping waves at the figure’s feet, to the jutting rocks and soft skin. Elegant handling of textures is further exemplified in the draped fringe of the cloth. This monumental and Fine work is illustrated in situ at Bazzanti’s studio circa 1900 among other fashionable works of the period. Notes: Pietro Bazzanti was also known as Pietro Barzanti. There are conflicting dates of Pietro Bazzanti/Barzanti's birth/death year. Some auction houses and art galleries have described 'Pietro Barzanti' as Italian, 1842–1881 and Pietro Bazzanti as Italian, 1825-1895. However, according to Alfonso Panzetta – Nuovo Dizionario degli Scultori Italiani dell’ottocento e del Primo Novecento – 2003 Edition –Page 78, 'Pietro Barzanti' was in fact 'Pietro Bazzanti' one and the same, and it questions his year of his birth/death as "Firenze (?), ?, ?." thus we believe that the Italian, 1825-1895 description is the most plausible. Literature: Alfonso Panzetta – Nuovo Dizionario degli Scultori Italiani dell’ottocento e del Primo Novecento – 2003 Edition –Page 78. Auctions: Another example of this sculpture, probably also Pietro Bazzanti but almost a foot shorter (Height 44¾ in. (113.5 cm), unsigned and without its pedestal, was sold at Christie's New York, 19th Century Furniture, Sculpture, Works of Art and Ceramics Sale...

This figurative sculpture by Lutfi Romhein depicts a female nude bust in Belgian black marble mounted on a grey marble base. It has a very fine grain which provides a really soft tou...