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拍品专文
This bronze may perhaps have been in part inspired by the equestrian group of Marcus Aurelius from Antiquity as well as the sculpteur du Roi François Girardon's (1628-1715) famous equestrian statue of Louis XIV. Cast by the fondeur J. Balthasar Keller and weighing over thirty tons, the monumental original was unveiled in the Place Louis le Grand (later renamed Place Vendôme) on 13 August 1699. Subsequently destroyed by the populace during the Terror in 1792, only one hoof, now preserved in the Louvre, survives from the original (M. Martin, Les Monuments Equestres de Louis XIV, Paris, 1986, pp. 92-117).
That Girardon executed bronze reductions himself is confirmed by René Charpentier's 1709 engraving entitled Gravure de la galerie Girardon, which depicts the reduction supplied for Versailles featured in Girardon's Gallery of Famous Sculptors. Further 18th Century reductions are recorded in the Louvre and Versailles; at Vaux-le-Vicomte; the Hermitage, St. Petersburg; the Detroit Institute of Arts; the Wallace Collection, London; the William Rockhill Nelson Museum, Kansas; and in Dresden. A further version, stamped with the C couronné poinçon, was acquired by George IV in Paris in 1817 for £360, and is now in the Royal Collection, Buckingham Palace.
This equestrian group is a remoulage or aftercast executed as a sand cast. The technique of patches secured by pins to disguise the casting flaws is typical of the second half of the 18th Century and suggests that the group was originally intended to be patinated. The present mercury gilding was added in the late 18th or early 19th Century when the base was adapted to fit the sculptural group.
Some of the mounts to the base are struck with the C couronné poinçon, a tax mark employed on any alloy containing copper between March 1745 and February 1749. This would suggest that the plinth was resold in Paris at this time.
WARWICK CASTLE
This equestrian group reputedly formed part of the exceptional collections assembled by both George, 2nd Earl of Warwick (d. 1816) and his son Henry, 3rd Earl of Warwick (d. 1855) at Warwick Castle. George, 2nd Earl, inherited the title in 1773. An avid, if financially reckless collector, he was a Fellow of the Royal Society and the Society of Arts and purchased old master paintings, boulle furniture and pietra dura tables, works of art and the famous Warwick Vase from his uncle, Sir William Hamilton. His impetuosity led to bankruptcy in 1802, which was partly allayed by the generosity of his housekeeper, Mrs. Hulme. Fortunately the estates were entailed which saved large portions of the collection as well as the lands. Nevertheless the 2nd Earl died in penury in 1816, having spent his latter years evolving a soap for the navy that would not curdle in salt water.
Henry, 3rd Earl of Warwick (1778-1855) was financially more astute. His only improvement to the castle was forced upon him when the ceiling of the great hall collapsed in 1830 and he replaced it with a 'medieval' creation designed by Ambrose Poynter. Instead his energies went towards extending the collection; he bought exotic inlaid ebony furniture, works of art and magnificent kunstkammer silver-gilt (including the Duke of York's silver service from Christie's in 1827). The interiors of the state rooms swelled with works of art listed by Kendall and praised by Charles Spicer in his history of Warwick Castle, The Vitruvius Britannicus, 1844, and by Henry Cooke, Warwick Castle and its Gardens, 1846.
That Girardon executed bronze reductions himself is confirmed by René Charpentier's 1709 engraving entitled Gravure de la galerie Girardon, which depicts the reduction supplied for Versailles featured in Girardon's Gallery of Famous Sculptors. Further 18th Century reductions are recorded in the Louvre and Versailles; at Vaux-le-Vicomte; the Hermitage, St. Petersburg; the Detroit Institute of Arts; the Wallace Collection, London; the William Rockhill Nelson Museum, Kansas; and in Dresden. A further version, stamped with the C couronné poinçon, was acquired by George IV in Paris in 1817 for £360, and is now in the Royal Collection, Buckingham Palace.
This equestrian group is a remoulage or aftercast executed as a sand cast. The technique of patches secured by pins to disguise the casting flaws is typical of the second half of the 18th Century and suggests that the group was originally intended to be patinated. The present mercury gilding was added in the late 18th or early 19th Century when the base was adapted to fit the sculptural group.
Some of the mounts to the base are struck with the C couronné poinçon, a tax mark employed on any alloy containing copper between March 1745 and February 1749. This would suggest that the plinth was resold in Paris at this time.
WARWICK CASTLE
This equestrian group reputedly formed part of the exceptional collections assembled by both George, 2nd Earl of Warwick (d. 1816) and his son Henry, 3rd Earl of Warwick (d. 1855) at Warwick Castle. George, 2nd Earl, inherited the title in 1773. An avid, if financially reckless collector, he was a Fellow of the Royal Society and the Society of Arts and purchased old master paintings, boulle furniture and pietra dura tables, works of art and the famous Warwick Vase from his uncle, Sir William Hamilton. His impetuosity led to bankruptcy in 1802, which was partly allayed by the generosity of his housekeeper, Mrs. Hulme. Fortunately the estates were entailed which saved large portions of the collection as well as the lands. Nevertheless the 2nd Earl died in penury in 1816, having spent his latter years evolving a soap for the navy that would not curdle in salt water.
Henry, 3rd Earl of Warwick (1778-1855) was financially more astute. His only improvement to the castle was forced upon him when the ceiling of the great hall collapsed in 1830 and he replaced it with a 'medieval' creation designed by Ambrose Poynter. Instead his energies went towards extending the collection; he bought exotic inlaid ebony furniture, works of art and magnificent kunstkammer silver-gilt (including the Duke of York's silver service from Christie's in 1827). The interiors of the state rooms swelled with works of art listed by Kendall and praised by Charles Spicer in his history of Warwick Castle, The Vitruvius Britannicus, 1844, and by Henry Cooke, Warwick Castle and its Gardens, 1846.