A PAIR OF BRONZE FIGURES OF MARS AND VENUS

Details

A PAIR OF BRONZE FIGURES OF MARS AND VENUS
FRENCH, 18TH CENTURY, AFTER SEBASTIAN SLODTZ

Mars standing before a tree stump leaning on his shield, a sword in his right hand, Venus wrapping herself in a drape, Cupid loosing an arrow at her right (sword missing) ----- 9in. (22.8cm.) and 9 3/8in. (23.8cm.) high, on waisted ormolu-mounted mahogany bases inset with brass, the undersides with old French shipping labels, golden brown patina with extensive black lacquer (2)

Lot Essay

The figure of Mars is intimately related in pose and facial type to the statue of 'Hannibal' by Sebastien Slodtz now in the Louvre. Cf. F. Souchal, Les Slodtz sculpteurs et décorateurs du Roi, 1685-1764, Paris, 1967, p. 2. It may also be connected with a large plaster model and molds for a 'Mars' 50 cm. high which is recorded in a posthumous inventory. (Souchal, op. cit, cat. no. 41).

The figure of Venus is related in pose to Slodtz's figure of 'Religion' for the chapel at Versailles (Souchal, op. cit., cat. no. 599, pl. 22b).

The late professor Hans Weihrauch suggested that these compositions in the Versailles taste may be the work of one of Slodtz's sons. Cf. H.R. Weihrauch, Europaïsche Bronzestatuetten 15.-18. Jahrhundert, Brunswick, 1967, p. 444, figs. 527-528.