Marble Bust of Faustina the Younger

Italian, early 18th century A bust of a woman wearing a Diadem Statuary marble Measure: 31 in. (79cm) high.

A fine pair of George III statuary marble busts of a boy and a girl by John de Vaere (1755 – 1830), 1798. Signed J DE-VAERE Sculpr. 1798. Considering what a sensitive and accomplished sculptor he was, surprisingly little is known about John de Vaere. Born in France in 1755, he settled in England some time before 1786 when he enrolled as a student at the Royal Academy Schools. In 1787 he left to study in Rome, with the financial assistance of Josiah Wedgwood. In Rome he won a Silver Medal for Sculpture from the Pope and became an assistant to John Flaxman. On his return to England in 1790, he worked as a modeler for Wedgwood until the latter’s death in 1795, after which he worked with Eleanor Coade, probably replacing John Bacon...

A fine regency bronzed plaster figure of a vestal bearing a lamp by Thomas hopper, circa 1807. Signed H. HOPPER LONDON JULY 6 1807. With its origin...

A COMPANION OF ULYSSES, AFTER THE ANTIQUE BUST IN THE TOWNLEY COLLECTION, NOW IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM, LATE 18TH CENTURY. Statuary Marble. This bust is a late 18th century English co...

JOSEPH MOZIER United States, 1812-1870 Bust of a Classical Young Woman (1851) Carved Cararra marble Signed to the reverse "J. MOZIER, Sc: ROME 1851" Item # 406QSO30A A stunningl...

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...

A very fine Italian Carrera marble sculpture of Flora. A beautiful young girl looking to dexter, she has her hair braided. Flora was the Roman...

A Marble Bust of a Classical Maiden Carved from statuary marble, the female bust of a coiffed lady with ribbon-tied hair flowing down her back where it joins her voluptuous dress wi...