拍品专文
The son of Emil Cauer the Elder, patriarch of the large and important family of German sculptors, Robert Cauer the Elder was born in Dresden in 1831. After studying at the Academy of Art in Dusseldorf from 1851 to 1855 under William von Schadow, Cauer joined his father and elder brother, Karl, and worked in the family atelier in Kreuznach. There, he continued the series of works begun by his father based on the fairy-tale characters of the Grimm brothers, executing works such as Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and Puss in Boots. On the death of Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm, in 1861 and 1863 respectively, feeling a great sense of loss at losing not only two of his closest friends, but also the source for much of the inspiration for his work at the time, Cauer, as a tribute, executed a double portrait of the brothers. The literary theme continued to be prevalent in Cauer's work throughout the late 1850s and 1860s, as he produced pieces based on the characters of Goethe, such as Hermann and Dorothea, Paul and Virginie and Lorelei.
In 1870, Cauer, together with his brother Karl, set up an atelier in Rome and this period spent in the Eternal City proved to be the most productive and successful of his career. The present figure, Quelle (The Source) was executed towards the end of this period and, on its completion, Cauer was said to be extremely pleased with the fruits of his labour, even if, contrary to his expectation, the National Gallery in Berlin was unwilling to add the sculpture to its collection, using as its reason the fact that the work did not reflect the fin de siècle taste prevalent at the time. In Quelle, Cauer returns to the 'watery' theme of his earlier Undine (see Masa, p. 138, cat. 56), here using the naked female form to symbolise gushing water from rocks.
In 1870, Cauer, together with his brother Karl, set up an atelier in Rome and this period spent in the Eternal City proved to be the most productive and successful of his career. The present figure, Quelle (The Source) was executed towards the end of this period and, on its completion, Cauer was said to be extremely pleased with the fruits of his labour, even if, contrary to his expectation, the National Gallery in Berlin was unwilling to add the sculpture to its collection, using as its reason the fact that the work did not reflect the fin de siècle taste prevalent at the time. In Quelle, Cauer returns to the 'watery' theme of his earlier Undine (see Masa, p. 138, cat. 56), here using the naked female form to symbolise gushing water from rocks.