"Wrestling the Lion, " Rare Nude Male Sculpture by Fritz Behn

This highly rare bronze of a nude male athlete preparing to left a heavy kettlebell weight was sculpted by an Austrian artist, Franz Seifert, in 1922. Although Seifert is known for his nude figures straining to accomplish physical tasks -- such as carrying a large bucket or splitting a stone -- this sculpture is the only example known to exist. A decade after this sculpture was cast, Seifert carved a marble portrait of Siegfried Marcus, inventor of the gasoline-powered car, for a monument in Vienna, which includes a nude male figure in bas relief racing forward on the upper edge of an automobile wheel. He also created a large sculpture grouping honoring Empress Elizabeth...

Beautifully sculpted by Tore Strindberg, one of Sweden's leading sculptors in the early 20th century, and sensitively cast and gilded by the Otto Meyers fou...