"Lucifer Resting, " Standing Male Nude, Rare Sculpture by Antonio Salemme

This highly rare bronze of a nude male athlete preparing to left a heavy kettlebell weight was sculpted by an Austrian artist, Franz Seifert, in 1922. Although Seifert is known for his nude figures straining to accomplish physical tasks -- such as carrying a large bucket or splitting a stone -- this sculpture is the only example known to exist. A decade after this sculpture was cast, Seifert carved a marble portrait of Siegfried Marcus, inventor of the gasoline-powered car, for a monument in Vienna, which includes a nude male figure in bas relief racing forward on the upper edge of an automobile wheel. He also created a large sculpture grouping honoring Empress Elizabeth...

Masterfully conceived and executed, this highly rare, perhaps unique, bronze sculpture captures a young male nude figure twisting to his right to pluck the strings of his lyre. Perhaps a reference to Orpheus who was able to charm all living creatures, the sculptor Earl Cummings...