Unknown

Art Nouveau Mother and Child Bronze Plaque

Circa 1900

This highly evocative bronze by Vincenzo Vela captures the deposed Emperor Napoléon on his deathbed, holding a map of Europe and lost in thought about what might have been. Remarkable among most portrayals of the exiled leader, this highly detailed sculpture depicts Napoléon at his most vulnerable. Nonetheless, Vela perfectly captures his still-heroic bearing, which imparts to this work a monumental quality and quiet dignity. The mate to this figure is the colossal marble at the Musée du Château de Malmaison, which was shown at the Paris Salon of 1867. The founder of the verismo movement in Italy, Vela was one of the great exponents of realism in sculpture. Born in Ligornetto, Switzerland in 1820, he studied under celebrated sculptor, Benedetto Cacciatori. He was also influenced both by the work of Tuscan sculptor Lorenzo Bartolini, who seamlessly combined neoclassicism with naturalism and the romantic painting of Francesco Hayez...

King Louis XIV, one of France's greatest monarchs, sits confidently astride a prancing steed in this bronze equestrian statue. The extraordinary work is a reduction of the portrait of the Sun King by François Girardon, one of the most noted and influential sculptors of the period. Looking back to the great masterpieces of antiquity, Girardon took his inspiration from the seminal ancient Roman marble of Marcus Aurelius, now in the Musei Capitoline (Rome). Louis XIV is thus portrayed here as a conquering Roman hero, his costume adorned with many neoclassical motifs, hand outstretched in a gesture of command. The result is an imposing royal portrait of power and absolute authority that pays homage to one of the most important sovereigns in French history. It was in 1685, at the very height of his rule, when Louis XIV commissioned the monumental bronze of himself from the great Girardon. As sculptor to the king, Girardon was a key figure in the decoration of the gardens at the Château de Versailles, and he was later commissioned to complete several important royal...

John Singer Sargent 1856-1925 American How They Met Themselves Bronze John Singer Sargent was among the most successful artists of his era. By the late 19th century, he was the m...

Oscar Nemon 1906 - 1985 Croatian Married Love Signed “Nemon” (on reverse) Bronze resin with green patina This rousing and sentimental sculpture, commis...

After François Girardon 1628-1715 French Pluto Abducting Proserpine Bronze This High Baroque period composition captures the famed narrative of Pluto and Proserpine from Roman mythology. The late 17th-century patinated bronze, created after François Girardon's marble composition, captures the very moment that Pluto seizes Proserpine. The anguished goddess reaches skyward, attempting to escape the god’s grasp while Pluto’s stoic face betrays his knowledge that his ploy will succeed. This pivotal moment in the mythological tale has captured the imagination of many art historical greats, from Bernini to Rubens. François Girardon’s version of the climax demonstrates incredible finesse and artistry, modeled expertly in bronze in the present work by a later sculptor. The statue brings a twist of intertwined bodies into a dynamic frenzy, paralleling the tension of the legendary story. In ancient Roman mythology, Proserpine, the beautiful daughter of Ceres — known as Persephone in Greek mythology — was picking flowers in the fields when she was suddenly abducted by Pluto, the god of the underworld, and taken to his kingdom. Consumed with grief, her mother Ceres, the goddess of agriculture, scorches the earth, stopping the growth of grain and fruit. Jupiter attempts to intervene and secure Proserpine’s return to earth, negotiating a compromise with Pluto and the Fates that allows Proserpine to be released for part of the year before returning to Pluto’s underworld. Proserpine’s journey back and forth is an allegory for the changing seasons; when Prosperine is with her mother, the earth warms and provides bountiful harvests. Upon her annual return to the underworld, however, the earth once again becomes cold and barren. After returning to France after years of training in Rome, François Girardon quickly rose to become one of the greatest artists in France. He was elected a member of the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture in 1657 and would become Chancellor of the Royal Academy in 1695. The artist was approached frequently for royal commissions and Girardon’s Pluto was originally commissioned by Louis XIV for the gardens at his Palace of Versailles. It was one of four monumental marble groups intended to decorate the corners of Charles Le Brun’s never completed garden at the chateau, the Parterre d’Eau. Each group of three figures symbolized one of the four elements: earth, air, fire and water. Pluto’s association with hell made him the apt...

Laocoön and his Sons Italian Bronze Group after Agesander, Polydorus and Anthenodorus Late 18th Century “The greatest piece of art in the world.” - Michelangelo, Italian sculptor, p...

Painted bronze with stone base. Limited and signed edition number 9 of 398. Carole A. Feuerman (born 1945) is an American sculptor and author working in Hyperrealism. She is one of the three major artists credited with starting the movement in the late 1970s. She is the only woman to sculpt in this style. Her career is highlighted by iconic figurative works of swimmers and dancers. She has been included in exhibitions at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Portrait Gallery; the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia; the Venice Biennale; and Palazzo Strozzi Palace in Florence, Italy, among others. Growing up in New York, Feuerman was deterred from being an artist. She attended Hofstra University, Temple University, and graduated from the school of Visual Arts in New York City to begin her career as an illustrator. During the early 1970s she went by the artist’s name Carole Jean, illustrating for The New York Times and creating album covers for Alice Cooper and the Rolling Stones. In 1981, Feuerman was chosen by a jury at the Heckscher Museum in Long Island where she exhibited. After this she was invited to participate in the ‘Learning through the Arts Program’ at the Guggenheim Museum. Feuerman received the Charles D. Murphy Sculpture Award in 1981. In 1982 she received the Amelia Peabody Award for sculpture. In 2016, she received Best in Show Award for her sculpture ‘Mona Lisa’ by the Huan Tai Museum. The sculpture was acquired for their permanent collection. Feuerman has also been awarded the Medici Prize by the City of Florence, First Prize at the Beijing Biennale, and the Austrian Biennale, and in 2008 she received First Prize in the Olympic Fine Art exhibition in Beijing. The piece was acquired by the Olympic Museum. She has taught, lectured, and given workshops at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Solomon Guggenheim Museum. In 2011, she founded the Carole A. Feuerman Sculpture Foundation. Her artworks are owned by eighteen museums, as well as in the collections of the City of Peekskill, New York, the City of Sunnyvale California, President and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation, Dr. Henry Kissinger, the Mikhail Gorbachev Art Foundation, Mr. Steven A. Cohen, Alexandre Grendene Bartelle, and the Malcolm Forbes Magazine Collection...

A unique "hanging sculpture" by the masterful Impiglia, who hand-cut the honeycomb aluminum himself. Born in Rome, Impiglia moved to New York in the ‘70s, where he established a signature style on the shoulders of Futurism and Cubism, his technical skill underpinning his eclecticism and allowing him to indulge in an appetite for complexity. His work has been exhibited in numerous galleries around the world and is part of prominent collections including that of The Victoria and Albert Museum and the Absolut...

A "hanging sculpture" made of honeycomb aluminum hand-cut by Impiglia, an artist whose value has only increased over the years. Born in Rome, Giancarlo Impiglia moved to New York in the ‘70s, where he established a signature style on the shoulders of Futurism and Cubism, his technical skill underpinning his eclecticism and allowing him to indulge in an appetite for complexity. His work has been exhibited in numerous galleries around the world and is part of prominent collections including that of The Victoria and Albert Museum and the Absolut Art...

Ford William is a self-taught folk/outsider artist, who began making art after coming to terms with chronic mental health issues that had plagued him all his life. The piece was made...

Ford William is a self-taught folk/outsider artist, who began making art after coming to terms with chronic mental health issues that had plagued him all his life. The piece was made...

Keith Young I'm an Achiever! Collage on Canvas; Rubber, Glue, Wood, Cotton Canvas Year: 2022 Size: 22x12.5x3in Signed by hand COA provided Ready to hang Ref.: 924802-1136 ----------...