Grand Tour Busts
GRAND TOUR STYLE
For 18th-century young British noblemen, no education was complete without a year on the Grand Tour. Although it had no official route, the Grand Tour focused on places foundational to European art, literature and architecture, including sites in France, Germany, Switzerland and, most importantly, Italy. It was an opportunity not just to witness the roots of the classics they had studied but also to take some of it home. Grand Tour furniture was among the souvenirs.
Grand Tour furniture ranged from marble architectural models replicating ancient wonders to actual antiquities often taken illicitly, leaving a legacy of looting still being unraveled today. Other items reflected the artistic richness of the Renaissance cities and other destinations. In Italy, this included scagliola tables and pedestals mimicking marble as well as tabletops and wall panels embedded with pietra dura hard stone mosaics.
Furniture was also developed to display Grand Tour purchases in the owner’s home, presenting them as a cultivated and well-traveled person. Mahogany collector’s cabinets held objects like intaglio moldings of coins and seals while others had specialized drawers that framed pietra dura panels.
Many objects were specifically produced for Grand Tour collectors. Often accompanied by retinues on journeys lasting months or years, the elite travelers, the wealthiest of whom extended their trips to Egypt and the Holy Land, required artful personal mementos befitting the experience. For example, Grand Tour micromosaics — small artworks, most not more than two inches wide — arose from the entrepreneurial impulses of artisans who had trained in the Vatican’s workshops.
Grand Tour journeys would help inform a range of decorative styles such as neoclassical, Rococo and Adam style. (Architect and designer Robert Adam toured Italy and France for five years.) The Grand Tour flourished at a time of economic prosperity and political stability, but the French Revolution in 1789 brought it to an end. Yet as the tradition faded in popularity in England, the rising wealth of the United States led to an increase in tourism across the Atlantic and a similar passion for collecting to show one’s worldliness.
Find a collection of Grand Tour decorative objects, wall decorations, lighting and other furniture on 1stDibs.
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Style: Grand Tour
Italian Grand Tour Carved Marble Bust Of Woman
Located in Bradenton, FL
Classical 19th century hand-carved Italian Neoclassic Grand Tour marble female bust. Bust features intricately carved young woman's head and neck, wearing delicate drapery across déc...
Category
19th Century Italian Antique Grand Tour Busts
Materials
Marble
Bronze Bust on Marble Base
Located in New York, NY
A substantial bronze bust on marble base, circa early-20th century, Europe. Bronze bust has a verdigris finish attached to a cylindrical Carrara marble column plinth base. A great de...
Category
Mid-20th Century European Grand Tour Busts
Materials
Marble, Carrara Marble, Bronze
Grand Tour Bronze Bust of Homer, Italy, Circa:1890
Located in Alexandria, VA
This solid (except for the pedestal) hand-cast bronze is of the 8th Century BCE Greek poet, author of the Iliad & the Odyssey. Although there are no images from life of Homer, busts ...
Category
Late 19th Century Italian Antique Grand Tour Busts
Materials
Bronze
19th Century Petite Italian Grand Tour Souvenir Bronze Bust of Dante Alighieri
Located in Pearland, TX
A fine antique 19th Century petite Grand Tour souvenir bronze bust of Italian poet Dante Alighieri. This handsome bust is well cast with exquisite details and lovely original patina....
Category
19th Century Italian Antique Grand Tour Busts
Materials
Bronze
Vintage Grand Tour Marble Composite Bust of Man
Located in west palm beach, FL
A striking vintage Coastal bust of man. A chic character from the Grand Tour era. A marble composition with a beautiful all over patina from time. Made in Italy. Acquired from a Palm...
Category
Mid-20th Century Italian Grand Tour Busts
Materials
Marble
After the Antique Polychromed Bronze Bust of the Prima Porta Augustus Caesar
Located in West Palm Beach, FL
After the antique polychromed bronze bust of the Prima Porta Augustus Caesar.
Italy,mid-20th century
A extraordinary, large scale, very heavy mid 20th...
Category
Mid-20th Century Italian Grand Tour Busts
Materials
Marble, Bronze
19th Century French Alabaster bust of Jean d'Arc
Located in New York, NY
Antique French (19th century) alabaster bust of Joan of Art, inscribed in French, Jeann d'Arc, exquisitely hand-carved .
Category
Late 19th Century French Antique Grand Tour Busts
Materials
Alabaster
Antique Female French Classical Bronze Diana Robing Praxiteles Audin a Marseille
By Praxiteles 1
Located in Dublin, Ireland
Fine Example of Classical Grand Tour Patinated Bronze Diana Robing after Praxiteles, an Elegant Classical Patinated French Bronze Female Standing Figure...
Category
19th Century Italian Antique Grand Tour Busts
Materials
Brass, Bronze, Ormolu
19th century bronze bust of the Greek Goddess Diana the Huntress, circa 1860
Located in Central England, GB
This superb Grand Tour bronze study portrays a bust of Diana of Versailles or Diana the Huntress, considered in Roman and Hellenistic mythology as goddess and patroness of countryside, nature, hunters, wildlife and childbirth. This fine example is French, circa 1860. It is raised onto a sophisticated base with a thin bronze foot with a turned black slate plinth and above there is a highly decorative cast...
Category
1860s French Antique Grand Tour Busts
Materials
Bronze
Bronze Bust of Menelaus King of Sparta Grand Tour, circa 19th Century
Located in London, GB
19th Century bronze bust Menelaus mythological king of Sparta. A fine casting with rich patina. In Greek mythology, Menelaus (Greek: Menelaos, from "vigor, rage, power" and "people," "wrath of the people") was a king of Mycenaean (pre-Dorian) Sparta, the husband of Helen of Troy, and the son of Atreus and Aerope. According to the Iliad...
Category
1880s French Antique Grand Tour Busts
Materials
Bronze
Grand Tour Bust of Augustus
Located in Greenwich, CT
Italian 19th century bronze bust of Augustus Ceasar, finely detailed and well patinated, standing on turned ebonized wood and marble socle plinth base.
Category
Mid-19th Century Italian Antique Grand Tour Busts
Materials
Marble, Bronze
Large Plaster Bust of Hercules
Located in Bagshot, GB
A 21st Century very charming and large verdigris plaster portrait bust of "Hercules" the demigod mortal son of Zeus.
Bust is solid and mounted on circular socle base. Very decorat...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary British Grand Tour Busts
Materials
Plaster, Paint
Grand Tour Bust of Julius Caesar, 19th Century
Located in London, by appointment only
19th Century Grand Tour statuary marble portrait bust of Julius Caesar 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC
Bust of Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar was a...
Category
19th Century Italian Antique Grand Tour Busts
Materials
Marble
Early 20th Century Sculpture Plaster Bust of Platon
Located in Madrid, ES
An academy bust in plaster representing a Greek philosopher, possibly Platon, the bust has a high quality of execution and is slightly patinated.
Category
Mid-20th Century Spanish Grand Tour Busts
Materials
Plaster
Plaster Bust of Hercules
Located in Bagshot, GB
A large plaster Head of Hercules connected to a rectangular base.
This is a nice start for a person looking to build a collection or looking for decorative items for there home / ...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary British Grand Tour Busts
Materials
Plaster
Antique Siena Marble Bronze Bacchanalia Cherub Group Atrib Claude Michel Clodion
Located in Dublin, Ireland
Stunning French “Grand Tour” Chisel Cast Patinated Bronze Cherub Group, of outstanding quality and compact proportions. In the manner of Claude Michel Clodion 1738-1814, early Ninete...
Category
19th Century Italian Antique Grand Tour Busts
Materials
Brass, Bronze, Ormolu
Grand Tour Bronze Bust of Dionysus of the Villa of the Papyri
Located in Essex, MA
The Villa of the Papyri was an ancient Roman villa in Herculaneum. Its named after its library of scrolls discovered in 1750. Dionysus was the Greek god of nature.The nicely cast bust with a Siena marble...
Category
15th Century and Earlier Italian Antique Grand Tour Busts
Materials
Siena Marble, Bronze
Pair of Grand Tour Bronze Busts, “Homer” & “Pseudo-Seneca”, circa 1880
Located in Shippensburg, PA
GRAND TOUR
Italian School
Pair of Busts, "Homer" & "Pseudo-Seneca", after Antiquity
Patinated bronze mounted on solid marble plinths cast by Chiurazzi, Naples circa 1880 each sealed with foundry cachet on shoulder
Item # 304KUV24Y
A rare and exciting pair of Grand Tour busts after Antiquity, each is executed in bronze and finished in a Herculaneum black patina with hints of verde in the underlying surface by the foundry of J. Chiurazzi of Naples. Foundry seals are located on their shoulders verso.
The first is a fine cast of Homer after the marble bust of Antiquity formerly in the Farnese collection and currently in the permanent collection of the National Archaeological Museum of Naples. It depicts the aged Greek poet and author of the Illiad and the Odyssey as a bearded man dressed in a tunic with a ribbon holding back his hair while concerned wrinkles line his forehead. His eyes are empty and devoid of anything, the absence alluding to his blindness while the sheer intensity of his spirit overwhelms the viewer. His simple garment are a reminder of his poverty.
The second bust known as "Pseudo Seneca" is cast after the original bust of antiquity found in 1754 at Herculaneum in the Villa of the Papyri, the home of Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus, father-in-law of Julius Caesar. The estate was buried in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. The bust had been thought to be an image of Lucius Annaeus Seneca - Seneca the Younger - the famous Stoic philosopher and fabulously wealthy advisor to Nero. However, after a titled bust of Seneca...
Category
19th Century Italian Antique Grand Tour Busts
Materials
Marble, Bronze
Italian Marble Bust of a Girl, 18th Century
Located in London, by appointment only
Italian 18th Century Marble Bust of a Girl
Late 18th century bust of a girl, in the manner of Luigi Valadier
Son of Andrea Valadier, a Prove...
Category
18th Century Italian Antique Grand Tour Busts
Materials
Marble
Vintage Italian Grand Tour Bronze Bust of Julius Augustus Caesar
Located in Chicago, IL
Vintage Italian Grand Tour Bronze Bust of Julius Augustus Caesar
A beautiful bust raised on a marble plinth base with a brass crest to dress up any home. Realistically cast and mo...
Category
1940s Italian Vintage Grand Tour Busts
Materials
Marble, Bronze
Very Rare Italian Grand Tour Marble Sculpture of the Eros Di Centocelle
Located in London, GB
A remarkable grand tour marble sculpture of the
eros di Centocelle
The god of love carved from a block of statuary marble, raised on a ...
Category
Early 19th Century Italian Antique Grand Tour Busts
Materials
Statuary Marble
Italian Grand Tour Antique Bronze Sculpture, Bust of Julius Caesar
Located in Shippensburg, PA
GRAND TOUR
Italian, 19th century
Bust of Julius Caesar
Patinated and pigmented sand-cast bronze over Violet Breche marble socle unsigned
Item # 212WHZ09P
A finely cast and beau...
Category
19th Century Italian Antique Grand Tour Busts
Materials
Marble, Bronze
Bust in the Grand Tour Style of Greek God Dionysus
Located in Memphis, TN
An Exceptional Large grand Tour Style Hellenistic Bust Of Greek God Dionysus. Highly detailed classical bust made of cast marble aka “marble dust.” Replica of Greek classical sculpt...
Category
Mid-20th Century European Grand Tour Busts
Materials
Marble
Antique Grand Tour French Bronze Sculpture Male Female Figure Clodion Barbediene
Located in Dublin, Ireland
An exceptional example of a fine pair of chisel cast French Patinated Bronze Figures after Claude Michel Clodion (1738-1814) in very dark brown patination. Mid-19th Century. Firmly a...
Category
19th Century French Antique Grand Tour Busts
Materials
Bronze, Ormolu
Grand Tour Bronze Bust of Homer
Located in Essex, MA
From the J. Chiurazzi foundry in Naples. Homer with nice rich patina on a Siena marble socle. Foundry medallion on back of base.
Category
19th Century Italian Antique Grand Tour Busts
Materials
Siena Marble, Bronze
Large 19th Century Bronze Bust
By Sabatino De Angelis
Located in London, GB
A superb 'Grand Tour' bronze bust, traditionally described as Dionysus (Dionysos), after the original excavated at the Villa of the Papyri in 1754; by the Sabatino and Sons foundry, ...
Category
Late 19th Century Italian Antique Grand Tour Busts
Materials
Bronze
Grand Tour Marble Bust Psyche Of Capua
Located in Newark, England
Fine marble bust on pedestal after the antique. The bust sculpted as the goddess Psyche Of Capua presented as a nude female with a draped partial robe ...
Category
19th Century Italian Antique Grand Tour Busts
Materials
Carrara Marble
Plaster Bust of Aphrodite Venus
Located in Bagshot, GB
A plaster bust of the goddess Aphrodite Venus.
A great decorative addition to your interior.
Category
21st Century and Contemporary British Grand Tour Busts
Materials
Plaster
Italian White Terracotta Bust of the Roman Emperor, Caesar Augustus, Octavian
Located in West Palm Beach, FL
Italian White Terracotta bust of the Roman Emperor, Caesar Augustus, Octavian
Italy, 1900s, Can be used indoors or outdoors.
A well execututed, large scale bust...
Category
Early 20th Century Italian Grand Tour Busts
Materials
Terracotta
Antique Grand Tour French Bronze Sculpture Male Figure Cherub Clodion Barbediene
Located in Dublin, Ireland
An exceptional example of a chisel cast French Patinated Bronze Figural Group of a Satyr and a male Figure holding a Baby Bacchus after Claude Michel Clodion (1738-1814) in dark pati...
Category
19th Century French Antique Grand Tour Busts
Materials
Bronze, Ormolu
Grand Tour Bronze Bust of Seneca
Located in Essex, MA
Modeled after the original found at Pompeii.
Category
1880s Italian Antique Grand Tour Busts
Materials
Bronze
Mercury Bust with Column, 19th Century
Located in Greding, DE
Grand Tour Marriage in alabaster with bust of Mercury (inscribed Mercurio) mounted on a twisted column with foliate capital and square base.
Category
19th Century Italian Antique Grand Tour Busts
Materials
Alabaster
19th Century Italian Grand Tour Bronze Bust of the Roman God Jupiter
Located in Stamford, CT
19th century Italian bronze bust of Jupiter on integral socle base, sits on a polished marble plinth. Nice chocolate patina. Inscribed 'Giove' on the rear.
7.5 inches high 3 wide 2.5 deep ( 5.25 high without base)
Jupiter, also called Jove, Giove, the chief ancient Roman and Italian god. Like Zeus, the Greek god, Jupiter was a sky god. One of his most ancient epithets is Lucetius (“Light-Bringer”).
Throughout Italy he was worshiped on the summits of hills. At Rome itself on the Capitoline Hill was his oldest temple; Jupiter gained a new force and meaning at the close of the early Roman...
Category
Late 19th Century Italian Antique Grand Tour Busts
Materials
Marble, Bronze
Bronze Bust of Caesar Augustus
Located in Essex, MA
Very heavy and beautifully cast with great patina.
Category
1880s Italian Antique Grand Tour Busts
Materials
Bronze
"Menelaeus" Grand Tour Bronze Sculpture
Located in West Palm Beach, FL
Antique late 19c "Menelaeus" sculpture Grand Tour bronze from a Palm Beach estate
Menalaeus was the husband of Helen of Troy and the original of this sculpture in white marble res...
Category
Late 19th Century Italian Antique Grand Tour Busts
Materials
Bronze
Vintage Grand Tour Plaster Bust of Man - a Pair
Located in west palm beach, FL
A fabulous pair of vintage plaster busts. A handsome man with an even more handsome beard. Done in the grand tour style. Painted a bright white. A...
Category
Mid-20th Century Grand Tour Busts
Materials
Plaster, Paint
Silver Bust of Menelaus King of Sparta Grand Tour
Located in Rochester, NY
19th century silver plate bust Menelaus mythological king of Sparta. A fine casting with rich patina. Ebonized wood base. Illegible hallmark. In Greek mythology, Menelaus was a king ...
Category
19th Century European Antique Grand Tour Busts
Materials
Silver Plate
'Seated Hermes', a 19th Century Italian Grand Tour Bronze
Located in Chicago, IL
An extraordinary and wonderfully rendered 19th century Italian cast bronze depicting a seated Hermes, the Greek god of messengers, travelers, and merchan...
Category
19th Century Italian Antique Grand Tour Busts
Materials
Bronze
Rare Grand Tour Bronze Bust of Cicero After Massimiliano Soldani Benzi
Located in Montreal, QC
Rare grand Tour Patinated bronze bust of Cicero After Massimiliano Soldani Benzi. The original is in the collection of Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna. P...
Category
1850s Italian Antique Grand Tour Busts
Materials
Bronze
Antique Sienna Cream Marble Grand Tour Classical Bust of Lady Figure
Located in Dublin, Ireland
A very fine quality carved white marble bust of a Grand Tour classical maiden, with down cast head and exotic head dress, late nineteenth century
This exceptional piece rests on ...
Category
19th Century French Antique Grand Tour Busts
Materials
Marble, Bronze, Ormolu
Grand Tour Style Bronze Bust of Clytie
Located in West Palm Beach, FL
Grand Tour Style bronze bust of Clytie, after the antique, the nymph with downcast face and scantily draped, cupped in a large flower. Raised on a 6" sq...
Category
Early 20th Century French Grand Tour Busts
Materials
Bronze
Italian Grand Tour Bronze Bust of Caesar
Located in Essex, MA
Bronze bust on yellow marble socle.
Category
Late 19th Century Italian Antique Grand Tour Busts
Materials
Marble, Bronze
Pair of 19th Century '1850s' Grand Tour Italian Carved Multi-Marble Busts
Located in North Miami, FL
A pair 19th century (1850s) (Grand Tour) Italian carved multi-marble busts of Augustus of Prima Porta and Julius Cesar. These extremely fine an...
Category
19th Century Italian Antique Grand Tour Busts
Materials
Marble, Carrara Marble
19th Century Statuary Marble Bust of the Braschi Antinous as Dionysus, Signed
Located in London, by appointment only
19th century statuary marble bust of the Braschi Antinous as Dionysus, Signed Puge
19th century statuary marble bust of Antinous as Dionysus, Sig...
Category
Mid-19th Century Italian Antique Grand Tour Busts
Materials
Statuary Marble
Small Bronze Bust of the Boy Octavian, 19th Century
Located in Greding, DE
Small bronze bust of young Octavian, later Emperor Augustus and first Roman Emperor.
Category
19th Century Italian Antique Grand Tour Busts
Materials
Bronze
Cast Bronze Dante Alighieri Grand Tour Bust Sculpture Statue on Marble
Located in Philadelphia, PA
Antique Italian cast bronze bust of Dante Alighieri on marble plinth. Item features: Fine bronze casting, beautiful patina, remarkable details, on bevelled edge marble plinth, circa ...
Category
1890s Italian Antique Grand Tour Busts
Materials
Marble, Bronze
Bronze Bust of Aeskulap
Located in West Palm Beach, FL
This stylsh bronze sculpture of the Greek god oh healing Aeskulap, and it was most likely originally acquired on the grand tour of Europe in the late 19th century.
Note: At the b...
Category
Late 19th Century German Antique Grand Tour Busts
Materials
Bronze
19th Century Bronze Bust of Caesar on Marble Pedestal
Located in Kilmarnock, VA
Nicely detailed Bronze bust of Caesar with terrific age acquired patina made in Italy during the late 19th century during the Grand Tour.
Category
Late 19th Century Italian Antique Grand Tour Busts
Materials
Marble, Bronze
Antique Pair of French Grand Tour Bronze Marble Cherubs Figures Putti Bookends
Located in Dublin, Ireland
Stylish example of a pair of heavy well cast Grand Tour bronze seated figures of two amorino (infant cupid or cherub) probably of French origin, early nineteenth century.
Each fig...
Category
19th Century French Antique Grand Tour Busts
Materials
Marble, Bronze, Ormolu
Pair of Bronze Busts of Rousseau and Voltaire
Located in London, GB
A pair of Antique busts of the French philosophers Rousseau and Voltaire. Unusually although from fairly standard portraits the busts appear to be English rather than French as they ...
Category
1820s English Antique Grand Tour Busts
Materials
Bronze
Fine Pair of Grand Tour Style Miniature Bronze Busts, Continental, circa 1900
Located in Ottawa, Ontario
A very handsome pair of classical bronze busts raised on white alabaster columns decorated with gilt metal rings, atop squared rouge royal marble...
Category
Early 20th Century German Grand Tour Busts
Materials
Alabaster, Bronze
Vintage Brass Verdigris Male Head Bust Sculpture
Located in Elkhart, IN
A gorgeous brass verdigris Grand Tour classical style male head bust sculpture
USA, Late 20th century
Measures: 3.75"W x 4.5"D x 5.25"H.
Good vintage condition.
Category
Late 20th Century American Grand Tour Busts
Materials
Brass
Antique Pair Grand Tour Bronze Egyptian Sphynx Figures Breche Violet Marble 19Ct
Located in Dublin, Ireland
An Extremely Imposing seated identical pair of chisel cast patinated Bronze Egyptian Sphynx, early Nineteenth Century, Possibly Regency period and of French origin.
Complete with extremely well figured Breche Violet marble rectangular heavy gauge bases.
Condition: Good condition with no losses to bronzes or marble. Wonderful untouched surface patination.
Width: (at base an impressive) 12.5" (32cm). Height: 6” (15.25cm). Depth: 6.25” (16cm).
Location: Dublin City, Ireland.
Affordable fixed charge Worldwide Store to door shipping offered.
NOTE: A sphinx (or sphynx) is a creature with the body of a lion and the head of a human, with some variations. It is a prominent mythological figure in Egyptian, Asian, and Greek mythology.
In ancient Egypt, the sphinx was a spiritual guardian and most often depicted as a male with a pharaoh headdress—as is the Great Sphinx—and figures of the creatures were often included in tomb and temple complexes. For instance, the so-called Sphinx Alley in Upper Egypt is a two-mile avenue that connects the temples of Luxor and Karnak and is lined with sphinx statues.
Sphinxes with the likeness of the female pharaoh Hatshepsut also exist, such as the granite sphinx statue at the Metropolitain Museum of Art in New York and the large alabaster sphinx...
Category
19th Century Italian Antique Grand Tour Busts
Materials
Breccia Marble, Brass, Bronze, Ormolu
XIXth Century Grand Tour Bust of Caracalla and Its Porphyry Column
Located in Saint-Ouen, FR
A XIXth century grand tour bust of caracalla and its porphyry column.
Bust of the Roman Emperor Caracalla in Polychromed resin simulating different ...
Category
1860s Italian Antique Grand Tour Busts
Materials
Porphyry, Belgian Black Marble, Ormolu
Grand Tour busts for sale on 1stDibs.
Find a broad range of unique Grand Tour busts for sale on 1stDibs. Many of these items were first offered in the 21st Century and Contemporary, but contemporary artisans have continued to produce works inspired by this style. If you’re looking to add vintage busts created in this style to your space, the works available on 1stDibs include decorative objects, building and garden elements and other home furnishings, frequently crafted with metal, bronze and other materials. If you’re shopping for used Grand Tour busts made in a specific country, there are Europe, Italy, and France pieces for sale on 1stDibs. While there are many designers and brands associated with original busts, popular names associated with this style include Achille Collas, Chiurazzi fondata, and Sabatino De Angelis. It’s true that these talented designers have at times inspired knockoffs, but our experienced specialists have partnered with only top vetted sellers to offer authentic pieces that come with a buyer protection guarantee. Prices for busts differ depending upon multiple factors, including designer, materials, construction methods, condition and provenance. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $395 and tops out at $108,302 while the average work can sell for $2,514.
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