Mannerist Sculptures

Carved and painted wooden sculpture - Madonna in Prayer - Italy, 17th-18th century. 25 x 20 x 65 cm. Made entirely of carved, lacquered, and painted wood. Some signs of wear and pa...

Claire Jeanne Robertine Colinet (1880 Brussels - 1950 Asnières-sur-Seine), Juggler, around 1920. Brownish patinated bronze with gilded balls on a round, multi-profiled stone base (10...

Pair of bookend sculptures. Venice, 17th century. 15 x 15 x h 29 cm. Entirely in finely carved wood. - This item is sold with a certificate of authenticity with legal validity. -...

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...

Signed: A. Carrier-Belluese Two large bronze matching busts of an unknown male and female 22 x 10 x 11" male 23 x 10 x 9" female Both show signs of wear with their age but are in fa...

Hermann Volz (1847 Karlsruhe - 1914 ibid.), Naked warrior with short sword, c. 1935. Partially (?) patinated bronze with cast plinth mounted on a black marble base (6.8 cm high). 32....

Alabaster sculpture - Hercules and the Cretan Bull. Rome, 17th century. 20 x 12 x h 34 cm. Made entirely of carved alabaster. Separate alabaster base, minor defects and signs of ag...

Bruno Zach (1891 Zhitomir - 1945 Vienna), Gladiator ready for battle, c. 1930. Blackish patinated bronze with silver-plated helmet, shield rim and shield pommel mounted on a fluted m...

Pair of small bronze sculptures - Grotesque lions. Italy, 18th-19th century. 10 x 5 x h 17 cm. Made entirely of patinated bronze in Renaissance style. Depicting two seated grotesqu...

Alabaster sculpture - Hercules and Cerberus. Rome, 17th century. 18 x 9.5 x h 37 cm. Made entirely of carved alabaster. Separate alabaster base, missing left foot and arm, and othe...

Gilded bronze sculpture - Mars, god of War. Rome, 17th century. 9 x 9 x h 31 cm. Entirely in cast, chiseled and gilded bronze, resting on an ebonized wooden pedestal decorated with...

Henri Honoré Plé (1853 Paris - 1922 Paris), The Victorious David, around1890. Red-brown and brown patinated bronze with terrain plinth mounted on a round base. 42 cm (total height) x...