Viennese Bronze, Snake Dancer on Marble Base, by Franz Bergmann, Around 1910

There were many bronze foundries operating in Vienna in this period, but it was Bergman’s which became the most celebrated, working with a number of celebrated Viennese sculptors at the turn of the 20th Century, such as Bruno Zach, to produce designs for his famous bronze figures. Bergman bronzes are especially famous for having utilised a technique for decorating the bronzes called cold painting. Cold painting as a technique developed in Vienna in the late 19th Century, and involved the application of several layers of paint added to the bronze after firing. It was used to make fashionable collectors’ items. Bergman figures came in three main forms: animal figures, Orientalist sculptures, and erotic figures in the Art Nouveau style. His animal figures were often whimsical and humorous, and often satirical. They have become highly sought-after collectors’ items today. Bergman’s Orientalist sculptures are equally highly sought-after. He was producing these figures at a time when interest in the exotic lands of the Middle East and North Africa was at its peak among Europe’s artists and buyers.