CAST FROM THE MODEL BY CARL DORN, LATE 19TH/EARLY 20TH CENTURY

Cast on a monumental scale, this impressive bronze represents Leda and Jupiter in the form of a swan, as recounted by Greek mythology. This story has been treated with great frequency, generally the moments before their union from which Castor, Pollux, Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra would eventually be born. The sculptor of the present lot, Carl Dorn, was born in Berlin and trained under sculptor Gustav Bläser. He later entered the Academy where he executed portrait busts of Prince Freidrich Wilhelm of Prussia and, in 1883, created a sculpture of a `Girl with Swan’, which could have been the model for the present work. Dorn’s career was filled with public commissions including several in Wittenberg and Strasbourg. Owing to its scale and signature by a Berlin foundry, the present bronze would have been a hugely expensive commission.