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Lot Essay
This beautifully finished bronze belongs to a group of statuettes which has long been recognized as the work of one artist, recently given the sobriquet 'The Master of the Fitzwilliam Museum' by Charles Avery in his catalogue of the Museo Civico Amedeo Lia, La Spezia. Most of the statuettes are of secular subjects and a large proportion of them are gilded, as in the present case. They all exhibit a goldsmith-like attention to detail.
Several bronzes by this master have appeared on the international market in the past decade; they include a seated Bacchus (Sotheby's 9 December 1993, lot 106 (sold 95,000)), another version of the present model (Christie's, 2 July 1996, lot 171 (sold 45,000)), and two versions of a standing Hercules (Christie's, 4 July 1989, lot 128 (sold 85,000) and 15 December 1998, lot 130 (sold 100,000)). This last bronze comes from the same source as the present lot - the private collection of Eduard Arnhold.
Eduard Arnhold (1849-1925) was one of the most important patrons of the arts in Germany at the beginning of this century. Based in Berlin, Arnhold was an avid collector of Reanissance painting and sculpture, as well as German and French Impressionists. Many works from the Arnhold collection have subsequently entered other prestigious private and institutional collections, including Manet's Le Bon Bock, now in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and Cezanne's Dans le valle de l'Oise, now in the Goetz collection, Los Angeles.
Several bronzes by this master have appeared on the international market in the past decade; they include a seated Bacchus (Sotheby's 9 December 1993, lot 106 (sold 95,000)), another version of the present model (Christie's, 2 July 1996, lot 171 (sold 45,000)), and two versions of a standing Hercules (Christie's, 4 July 1989, lot 128 (sold 85,000) and 15 December 1998, lot 130 (sold 100,000)). This last bronze comes from the same source as the present lot - the private collection of Eduard Arnhold.
Eduard Arnhold (1849-1925) was one of the most important patrons of the arts in Germany at the beginning of this century. Based in Berlin, Arnhold was an avid collector of Reanissance painting and sculpture, as well as German and French Impressionists. Many works from the Arnhold collection have subsequently entered other prestigious private and institutional collections, including Manet's Le Bon Bock, now in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and Cezanne's Dans le valle de l'Oise, now in the Goetz collection, Los Angeles.