Mythological Bronze Mercury after Giambologna

Very large bronze sculpture with brown patina, based on the group "The Rape of the Sabine Women" by John of Bologna (Giambologna). This pivoting composition shows three figures in motion: a man on the ground defeated with his shield turned upside down, a second one arched clutching a woman launched towards the sky trying to escape, all on a naturalistic base. The Sabine man, the Roman and the Sabine woman are all depicted naked. This staging plays on serpentine lines known as "figura serpentinata" and diagonals giving a beautiful variety of volumes and a multiplicity of angles of view. The bronze is signed F. De Luca...

Bronze sculpture with a brown patina shaded in green signed Pigalle on the base, representing a child surprised by a crayfish's pinching. Tears are running down the cheeks of the naked child, sitting on a large shell, as he has just been pinched by a crayfish. The sculpture rests on a green marble base. Jean-Baptiste Pigalle is a great French sculptor born in Paris in 1714. At a very young age, he studied sculpture and became aware that his art was the meaning of his life. He moved to Italy in 1734 to perfect his technique. Then, he joined the Beaux-Arts, thanks to his work "Mercury attaching his heel" (1740) which had an immediate success. Several artists have a copy, painters represent it on their canvases, and a biscuit reduction is made by the manufacture of Sevres in 1770. Very quickly the orders multiplied and Mme de Pompadour took him under her wing. Juggling between baroque and classical styles, he made portraits of Diderot and Voltaire and then realized the famous funeral monuments...