Antichita Castelbarco Figurative Sculptures

Carved and painted wooden sculpture - Pietà - Italy, 18th century. 13 x 7 x h 22.5 cm. Entirely made of carved and polychrome painted wood. Condition report: Good state of conserv...

Fine Group of Sculptures in Bronze after Jean de Boulogne (Giambologna) The torturously twisting Rape of the Sabine Women is one of the finest and most technically difficult sculpt...

Terracotta sculpture - Memento mori. Italy, 18th-19th century. 16 x 25 x h 18 cm. Entirely in terracotta. - This item is sold with a certificate of authenticity with legal validi...

A 20th Century wood carved male figure, a 'Cigar Store Indian' with original polychrome decoration. A now controversial subject, but none the less charming rendition, of a native North American man originally probably used as an advertising figure. Wonderful quality of carving capturing the stance of the man looking out to the distance, hair flowing to his back and plait to the side, all the details of his costume, his native dress and hairpipe breastplate (suggesting he is possibly a Comanche) and chest ornament, apron, trousers, mocassins, shield and arrows. The original Polychrome decoration has weathered beautifully as has the wood itself to present a sculpture that would adorn any collection or interior. Because of the general illiteracy of the populace, early store owners used descriptive emblems or figures to advertise their shops' wares. American Indians and tobacco had always been associated because American Indians introduced tobacco to Europeans. As early as the 17th century, European tobacconists used figures of American Indians to advertise their shops. Because European carvers had never seen a Native American, these early cigar-store "Indians" looked more like Africans with feathered headdresses and other fanciful, exotic features. These carvings were called "Black Boys" or "Virginians" in the trade. Eventually, the European cigar-store figure...

FREE SHIPPING TO WORLDWIDE! Artisan: Roxana y Jesus Hernandez MASTERPIECE Made with Copal wood, woodcarving technique gouges, machete and sandpaper, decorated with acrylic paintin...

American, b. 1961 Jane DeDecker’s energetic and dynamic bronze sculptures serve as a reflection of her own life experiences and those of her closely-knit family. Her twelve nieces and nephews are the primary source of her inspiration, though DeDecker’s sculptures are not portraits. In fact, her loose style leaves her viewers with room for interpretation, so as to see their own lives within her sculptures. This imprecision, combined with her unique ability to capture specific moments to which each viewer can relate on a personal level, regardless of age, give DeDecker’s work a timeless quality that spans generations. DeDecker began her artistic training as a painter at the University of Northern Colorado, until a professor, noticing her joy in the portrayal of shapes and forms, suggested she try her hand at sculpture. Taking his advice, DeDecker went on to study at Gobelins School of Tapestry in Paris...

Diorama in Wood and Polychrome Stucco Attributed to Thomas Gaudiello (Naples, active 1685-1727) This fascinating diorama depicting the Nativity is distinguished by its complex three...

Nebraka-based Jamie Burmeister is a sculptor known for his original small bronze figures, standing at just 4 inches tall. His unique figurative sculptures have been showcased in gall...

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...

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...

*New Year Inventory Renewal Sale - 90 Days Until April 30th* *This Price Won't Be Repeated Again This Year* These two Pokemon pieces are the savvy collector a must have: the...

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...