FRENCH, 18TH CENTURY

Details

A PAIR OF BRONZE GROUPS OF THE RAPE OF EUROPA AND NESSUS AND DEIANIRA
FRENCH, 18TH CENTURY
Europa depicted seated on the back of the flower-bedecked bull; Deinaira seated on the back of the centaur Nessus; each on an integral naturalistc rectangular plinth painted with the inventory number '178' and later rectangular slate and marble base; medium brown patina with lighter greenish brown high points
9½ and 8¼ in. (24.2 and 21 cm. ) high; 12 5/8 and 11 3/8 in. (32.1 and 28.8 cm.) high, overall (2)

Provenance

Christie's, London, 18th April 1989, lot 167.

Literature

F. Russell ed., The Loyd Collection of Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture, revised edition 1991, p. 61, no. 178.
COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:
H. Weirauch, Europäische Bronzestatuetten 15.-18. Jahrhundert, Brunswick, 1967, p. 410, fig. 494
R. Wenley, French bronzes in the Wallace Collection, London, 2002, pp. 62-3, S187.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

The varying physiognomies of the two abduction groups on offer here, would imply that they were conceived by different hands and paired at a later date in order to create harmonious pair. The Nessus and Deianira exists in a small number of French casts dating to circa 1690, the principal versions of which are in the Wallace Collection, London and the Grünes Gewölbe, Dresden (Wenley, loc. cit. and Weirauch, loc. cit. respectively). While the model for these bronzes may have been conceived at an earlier date to the Rape of Europa they certainly feature as a pair from 1700, when they appear as successive entries in the inventory of André Le Notre's collection and as separate bronzes bought in 1699 by the Elector of Saxony in Paris and now, again, in the Grünes Gewölbe. It is likely, therefore, that an industrious founder considered this pairing to be of good commercial value and modified the models by adding a garland around the bull's neck and harmonising the plinths, and thus created, amongst others, the bronzes on offer here.

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