A PAIR OF GILT-BRONZE ANGELS

CIRCLE OF HUBERT GERHARD (DIED 1620), LATE 16TH OR EARLY 17TH CENTURY

Details

A PAIR OF GILT-BRONZE ANGELS
CIRCLE OF HUBERT GERHARD (DIED 1620), LATE 16TH OR EARLY 17TH CENTURY
The kneeling figures with arms outstretched, wearing flowing robes secured at their waist and above the elbow.
(54cm.) high, including later base (2)

Provenance

Major General Georges Burns, K.C.V.O., C.B., D.S.O, O.B.E. and M.K., North Mymms Park, Hatfield, Hertfordshire; Christie's, London, 30/11/1967, lot 16.

Literature

COMPARATIVE LITTERATURE
M. Baxandall, 'A Masterpiece by Hubert Gerhard', Victoria and Albert Museum Bulletin, vol. I, no. 2, London, April, 1965, pp. 2-19.

Exhibited

Warsaw, Royal Castle, Opus Sacrum, 1990, pp. 318-320, cat. no. 60 (catalogue entry by K. Kalinowski)

Lot Essay

When these large, gilt-bronze angels were sold from the collection of Major General Sir George Burns in 1967, they were described as 'Roman or Florentine'. At the time they were exhibited at the Royal Castle in Warsaw, it was suggested that they were by Hubert Gerhard, a follower of Giambologna's, and that they formed part of the altar which Gerhard created for the Fugger banking family in the Dominican Church of St. Magdalena at Augsburg in 1581-84 (Warsaw, loc. cit). However, the surviving elements of the Fugger altar, now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, betray Gerhard's formation in mannerist Florence to a much greater extent than is evident here. The present bronzes, with their broader proportions and greater sense of balance, appear to have been created by a sculptor more influenced by the classicism of Rome.

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