Lot Essay
Much like the illustrious and prolific firm of Fonderia Chiurazzi, the Neapolitan bronze foundry of Sabatino De Angelis & Fils garnered success from producing plaster and bronze replicas of artifacts and sculpture of the Antique. Described as an 'especially good foundry', De Angelis specialized in casting 'souvenirs of the Grand Tour', ranging from full-scale reproductions of ancient bronzes to small household implements (C. Mattusch, The Villa dei Papiri at Herculaneum, Los Angeles, 2004, p. 341). Interestingly, during the last quarter of the 19th century De Angelis and Chiurazzi formed the Società Chiurazzi-DeAngelis (also known as Fonderia Riunite) and supplied various international institutions with hundreds of reproductions, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, The Field Museum in Chicago and the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh. However, the collaborative efforts of the two foundries was brief and both firms published separate catalogues by the end of 1900.
The original Antinous Farnese currently resides in The National Archaeological Museum of Naples, located in the Antonians Hall.
The original Antinous Farnese currently resides in The National Archaeological Museum of Naples, located in the Antonians Hall.