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Lot Essay
The present model of the Virgin and Child is an intriguing discovery that is due to appear in a forthcoming monograph by Dorothea Diemer attributed to the Dutch sculptor, and earliest northern artist working in the Italian mannerist style, Hubert Gerhard. The attribution has been proposed by Diemer who believes that the model of the present lot belongs to a group of small, mostly religious bronzes, conceived during his time in Mergentheim or Innsbruck sometime after 1597. Included in this group are a pair of bronzes of the Virgin and St. John in Innsbruck, a Pietà formerly in the Blumka collection and a group of a Horse and Rider in Frankfurt (Diemer, loc. cit.).
Gerhard, along with Adriaen de Vries and Hans Reichle, was one of the three exponents of Italian art that broke the mould of the northern renaissance by introducing the elongated and mannered proportions of Giambologna - a man they had all worked with in Florence. In 1581 de Vries moved to Prague to work for Rudolph II, while in the same year Gerhard left for Augsburg to enter the employ of the Fugger family. By 1595 Reichle would be in neighbouring Munich working for William V of Bavaria.
During his artistic reign over the last two decades of the 16th century, Gerhard accomplished not only one masterpiece of northern art, the Fugger Altarpiece (1581-1584), but also three monumental fountains; the Wittelsbach Fountain (1587), the Augustus Fountain (1589-94) and the Fugger Fountain (1590). In each instance Giambologna's influence is highly pronounced, with tall muscular figures in dynamic poses and with a similar attention to the fineness of finishing, seen clearly in the chasing and patination of the surfaces. This debt to the Florentine master is also evident in the group of small bronzes that Diemer suggests date, along with the model of the present lot, to after 1597 when he entered the employ of Maximilian I of Bavaria. There are several features which all these bronzes have in common including their small size, which suggests that their function was for handling and close observation. Secondly, each displays complex and varying qualities of the drapery, which ranges from light, silky ripples to heavy and voluminous contours. Finally, one can compare the close physiognomy of the faces, which, when looking at each Virgin, are similarly oval-shaped, with pinched nose and almond-shaped eyes with heavy lids. It is worth noting at this point, that the head of Christ in the present group is also directly echoed - in the style and modelling - by the heads of the angels from the Fugger Altarpiece (Baxandall, op. cit. figs. 4 and 5) - yet another clear debt to Giambologna.
The Virgin and St. John, the Pietà and indeed many of Gerhard's later small bronzes tended to be finished with punched or chiselled surfaces and richly gilt or patinated. Since the present bronze is in an unchased and unpatinated state, the task of attributing it specifically to Gerhard or his workshop is all the more difficult. What one can reasonably surmise, however, is that this cast must have been considered of some importance. In spite of the casting flaws - many of which have been repaired with plugs, areas of in-fill and replacements - the artist has still proceeded to attach the head of the Virgin to the body, which would have been redundant if the cast was simply going to be discarded. The importance of this cast must therefore derive from one of two points; it was either considered to be too fine to discard, or the prototype was destroyed after it was cast. Sadly, the reason why the bronze was not filed or patinated can only be the subject of conjecture.
On the grounds of compelling stylistic similarities that exist between this lot and the attributed bronzes mentioned above, it is perfectly plausible for the model, at least, to be attributable to Gerhard. And while the true origins of this bronze will remain enigmatic, it is without doubt a first generation cast from a model that had to have been created by Gerhard, with the extensive and skilled repairs simply supporting the fact that the cast was made in Gerhard's workshop and possibly during his lifetime.
We are grateful to Dr. Dorothea Diemer for her confirmation of the attribution and for giving access to her entry on this bronze group in her forthcoming publication.
Gerhard, along with Adriaen de Vries and Hans Reichle, was one of the three exponents of Italian art that broke the mould of the northern renaissance by introducing the elongated and mannered proportions of Giambologna - a man they had all worked with in Florence. In 1581 de Vries moved to Prague to work for Rudolph II, while in the same year Gerhard left for Augsburg to enter the employ of the Fugger family. By 1595 Reichle would be in neighbouring Munich working for William V of Bavaria.
During his artistic reign over the last two decades of the 16th century, Gerhard accomplished not only one masterpiece of northern art, the Fugger Altarpiece (1581-1584), but also three monumental fountains; the Wittelsbach Fountain (1587), the Augustus Fountain (1589-94) and the Fugger Fountain (1590). In each instance Giambologna's influence is highly pronounced, with tall muscular figures in dynamic poses and with a similar attention to the fineness of finishing, seen clearly in the chasing and patination of the surfaces. This debt to the Florentine master is also evident in the group of small bronzes that Diemer suggests date, along with the model of the present lot, to after 1597 when he entered the employ of Maximilian I of Bavaria. There are several features which all these bronzes have in common including their small size, which suggests that their function was for handling and close observation. Secondly, each displays complex and varying qualities of the drapery, which ranges from light, silky ripples to heavy and voluminous contours. Finally, one can compare the close physiognomy of the faces, which, when looking at each Virgin, are similarly oval-shaped, with pinched nose and almond-shaped eyes with heavy lids. It is worth noting at this point, that the head of Christ in the present group is also directly echoed - in the style and modelling - by the heads of the angels from the Fugger Altarpiece (Baxandall, op. cit. figs. 4 and 5) - yet another clear debt to Giambologna.
The Virgin and St. John, the Pietà and indeed many of Gerhard's later small bronzes tended to be finished with punched or chiselled surfaces and richly gilt or patinated. Since the present bronze is in an unchased and unpatinated state, the task of attributing it specifically to Gerhard or his workshop is all the more difficult. What one can reasonably surmise, however, is that this cast must have been considered of some importance. In spite of the casting flaws - many of which have been repaired with plugs, areas of in-fill and replacements - the artist has still proceeded to attach the head of the Virgin to the body, which would have been redundant if the cast was simply going to be discarded. The importance of this cast must therefore derive from one of two points; it was either considered to be too fine to discard, or the prototype was destroyed after it was cast. Sadly, the reason why the bronze was not filed or patinated can only be the subject of conjecture.
On the grounds of compelling stylistic similarities that exist between this lot and the attributed bronzes mentioned above, it is perfectly plausible for the model, at least, to be attributable to Gerhard. And while the true origins of this bronze will remain enigmatic, it is without doubt a first generation cast from a model that had to have been created by Gerhard, with the extensive and skilled repairs simply supporting the fact that the cast was made in Gerhard's workshop and possibly during his lifetime.
We are grateful to Dr. Dorothea Diemer for her confirmation of the attribution and for giving access to her entry on this bronze group in her forthcoming publication.