Bronze Hindu Bird-Catcher by Auguste de Wever 'Belgian, 1836-1910'

Large patinated bronze figure of an Antiquity warrior. He is set on a base decorated with battle scenes, marked: Les Chasseurs Éclaireurs de Bruxelles à leur Lt Colonel O. Tahon 1870...

Brown patina bronze sculpture depicting Mercury (Hermes), god of commerce, thieves and messenger of the gods, seated on a rock tying his winged heel-piece. He is wearing a petasus, a winged hat, and his caduceus is resting on the ground. This sculpture, based on a model by Jean-Baptiste Pigalle, shows a young god, naked and in motion. In a double-swivel position, he prepares to take off. The bronze, resting on a circular stepped base in griotte red marble, is signed on the terrace "Pigalle, 1745". The original of this sculpture was Pigalle's reception piece for the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture on July 30, 1744, which entered the Louvre between 1848 and 1850. Jean-Baptiste Pigalle: The sculptor of the Enlightenment A great French sculptor, Jean-Baptiste Pigalle was born in Paris in 1714. He worked on his art from an early age under the guidance of Robert Le Lorrain and later Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne. Convinced that his art was the meaning of his life, he returned to Italy in 1734 to perfect his technique. On his return, he began his "Mercure attachant sa talonnière" (1740), which enabled him to enter the Beaux-Arts. His reputation soared among the Parisian aristocracy. Mme de Pompadour took him under her wing, and commissions poured in. Juggling between the Baroque and the Classical, he painted portraits of Diderot and Voltaire, then created the famous funeral monuments...

Figure "Memoria" in bronze with brown and green shaded patina signed Emile Louis Picault. It represents a young woman seated, dressed in a drapery,...

Bronze group with brown patina featuring Cupids fighting over a heart after Etienne-Maurice Falconet (1716-1791). This work had a great success in the second half of the 19th century...

"The Arab Falconer" by Pierre Jules Mene The finely cast and planished bronze, depicting a falconer walking on a naturalistic ground, with a hare ...

A fluid and sinuous depiction of Hercules the moment after releasing an arrow from his bow to kill the Stymphalian birds, it was one of Joseph Uphues'...

Incredible french bronze "Separating the Cocks" in bronze.

A very fine bronze study of Venus taking an arrow from Cupid her son, who at times would shoot his arrows without meaning or reason into the hearts of men, igniting their desire. Exhibiting excellent rich brown patina and good detail, signed Sul Abadie and stamped. Additional information Height: 93 cm Condition: excellent condition Circa: 1885 Materials: bronze & marble SKU: 4979 ABOUT Jean Sul-Abadie Jean Sul-Abadie (Born 1850 ~ Died 15th April 1890) was a French artist, a pupil of Jouffroy and Falguière. Specialising in bronze sculpting in the Art Nouveau style. He made his Salon debut in 1872. Cupid & Venus Different tales exist about the origin of Venus and Cupid. Some say that Venus, the goddess of love and beauty, had a love affair with Mars, the god of war. Out of this relationship, Cupid was born. In the following painting you see Venus with Mars, who is being disarmed by Cupid. Cupid has attributes from both of his parents. Like his mother he is considered to be the god of love, or more precisely, the god of falling in love. He is portrayed as an innocent little child with bow and arrows. He shoots arrows to the heart, and awakening a love that you’re powerless to resist. In classical mythology, Cupid (Latin Cupido, meaning “desire”) is the god of desire, erotic love, attraction and affection. He is often portrayed as the son of the love goddess Venus and the war god Mars, and is known in Latin also as Amor (“Love”). His Greek counterpart is Eros. Although Eros is in Classical Greek art as a slender winged youth, during the Hellenistic period, he was increasingly portrayed as a chubby boy. During this time, his iconography acquired the bow and arrow that represent his source of power: a person, or even a deity, who is shot by Cupid’s arrow is filled with uncontrollable desire. In myths, Cupid is a minor character who serves mostly to set the plot in motion. He is a main character only in the tale of Cupid and Psyche, when wounded by his own weapons he experiences the ordeal of love. Although other extended stories are not told about him, his tradition is rich in poetic themes and visual scenarios, such as “Love conquers all” and the retaliatory punishment or torture of Cupid. In art, Cupid often appears in multiples as the Amores, or amoriniin the later terminology of art history, the equivalent of the Greek erotes. Cupids are a frequent motif of both Roman art and later Western art of the classical tradition. In the 15th century, the iconography of Cupid starts to become indistinguishable from the putto. Cupid continued to be a popular figure in the Middle Ages, when under Christian influence he often had a dual nature as Heavenly and Earthly love. In the Renaissance, a renewed interest in classical philosophy endowed him with complex allegorical meanings. In contemporary popular culture, Cupid is shown drawing his bow to inspire romantic love, often as an icon of Valentine’s Day. Venus is the Roman goddess whose functions encompassed love, beauty, sex, fertility, prosperity, victory, and desire. In Roman mythology, she was the mother of the Roman people through her son, Aeneas, who survived the fall of Troy...