Catharni Stern

On the London Tube

Fine Group of Sculptures in Bronze after Jean de Boulogne (Giambologna) The torturously twisting Rape of the Sabine Women is one of the finest and most technically difficult sculpt...

Ferdinand Barbedienne (Saint-Martin-de-Fresnay 1810 – 1892 Paris) after Lorenzo Ghiberti (Florence, 1378 – 1455) Signed at the lower right of the principal relief: F. BARBEDIENNE Provenance: Private Collection, USA. Barbedienne’s “Gates of Paradise” reliefs are one of the triumphs of nineteenth-century bronze casting and patination. The nine panels that comprise our example are half-size reductions of the famous originals by Lorenzo Ghiberti, made for the Baptistery of Florence and now housed in the Museo del Opera del Duomo. Mounted in an impressive, mullioned frame surround, our work is an exceptional exemplar of the Renaissance Revival, the broadly influential style and movement that infused architecture, design, and artistic culture in the latter half of the nineteenth century. The central scene, The Story of Joseph, is perhaps the most celebrated of the entire series depicting as it does seven episodes from the Biblical narrative integrated into a single composition: Joseph cast by his brethren into the well, Joseph sold to the merchants, the merchants delivering Joseph to the pharaoh, Joseph interpreting the pharaoh’s dream, the pharaoh paying him honor, Jacob sending his sons to Egypt, and Joseph recognizes his brothers and returns home. The surrounding reliefs—two vertical figures in niches, two recumbent figures, and four portrait heads in roundels—are as well faithful reductions of Ghiberti’s original bronzes on other parts of the doors. The maker of these casts was the renowned 19th-century French fondeur Ferdinand Barbedienne. Gary Radke has recently written of this great enterprise: “The Parisian bronze caster Ferdinand Barbedienne began making half-sized copies of ancient and Renaissance sculpture in the 1830s. His firm benefitted enormously from the collaboration of Achille Collas, whom Meredith Shedd has shown was one of numerous pioneers in the mechanical reproduction of sculpture. Their competitors largely devoted themselves to reproducing relief sculpture, but Collas devised a process for creating fully three-dimensional copies. A tracing needle, powered by a treadle, moved over the surface of a full-sized plaster cast or bronze of the original and triggered a complementary action in a cutting stylus set over a soft plaster blank…He signed an exclusive contract with Barbedienne on November 29, 1838, and won medals for his inventions in 1839 and 1844. Barbedienne’s half-sized copies of the Gates of Paradise were famous not only for their fidelity to the original, but also for the way their gilding…suggested the glimmering surface that was hidden under centuries of dirt. Some critics even saw Collas’s and Barbedienne’s work as ‘philanthropic, an exemplary adaptation of industry to the requirements of art, the artist, the workers, and the public alike.’ At 25,000 francs, Collas’s and Barbedienne’s reduction of the Gates of Paradise was singularly more expensive than any other item for sale in their shop. All the reliefs, individual statuettes, and busts were cast separately and could be purchased either by the piece or as an ensemble. Fittingly, Barbedienne’s accomplishment earned him the Grand Prix at the 1878 Paris Exposition Universelle, along with numerous other medals.” Three complete examples of the Barbedienne-Ghiberti doors are known. One, first installed in a chapel in the Villa Demidoff of San Donato near Pratolino, was later acquired by William Vanderbilt...

Hermann Rastorfer was a draftsman, painter, sculptor, illustrator, ceramist, designer, poster artist, developer of advertising concepts and communication campaigns, inventor, and architect. He began as a typesetter in Salzburg. In the mid-1950s, he moved to Germany, where he soon founded his own studio for graphic design and advertising. His goal was always to give each product a distinctive, highly recognizable appearance. He designed his own design line for the German pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim, artistic cover images for numerous paperbacks from renowned publishers, and packaging for well-known products such as Ferrero Küsschen, Mon Chéri, Martell cognac...

An untitled signed bronze sculpture by the Mexican artist, Victor Salmones (1937 - 1989) from an edition of 10. Numbered 1 of 10. Signature "Victor Salmones. 1/10" in cast. In excellent original condition. Victor Salmones (1937-1989) was the most widely known sculptor living and working in Mexico during his lifetime. His sculptures won him universal acclaim and are held in the collections of museums, corporations, cities, universities and private collectors in some 30 countries. During his career, he was highly sought after and increasingly involved in the execution of commissions for major public works around the world. Salmones developed his love and talent for creating sculpture by working with clay in high school. He attended the Instituto de Bellas Artes (Mexican National Institute of Fine Arts), where he was an apprentice to the Bauhaus master, Otto Hoffman. He was trained to use the exacting, age-old lost wax method of casting and worked principally in bronze. Hoffman's encouragement led to the opening of Victor's own sculpture workshop in Cuernavaca in 1966. In 1967, Salmones’ fluid bronze “Adam” won first prize at the Biennale Exposition of the National Museum of Modern Art. His work continued to win the highest critical acclaim at subsequent Biennale expositions, and in 1971, over hundreds of entries, his life-size bronze Narcissus...

16th Century Venetian bronze sculpture of a Young Man in Armour attributed to the Florentine artist Andrea di Alessandri, called Il Bresciano (Fl...

Resting on a circular Egyptian porphyry base, this fascinating bronze figure of a young cherub is a striking example of the Venetian workmanship of the 16th Century. With the head tu...

Giovanni Nicolini (Palermo 1872 - Rome 1956), Dreams Bronze sculpture 63 x 35 x 35 cm signed and located Rome on the back; in the wooden base is a ...

Costantino Barbella (Chieti 1852 - Rome 1925), Love Song Bronze sculpture 41 x 35 x 21 cm signed at bottom, on black marble base. Provenance: Private Collection, Rome.

Art Deco bronze sculpture two panther heads by Irenee Rochard, France 1930. The bronze has a green patina and stands on a Belgian Black marble base. Information on the artist: Ani...

Set of six doll head molds and set of eight bronze doll torsos constructed o f bronze. The molds were used in the manufacturing process in the 1920s for making plastic dolls, are mou...