Beschreibung:

AFTER LOUIS-SIMON BOIZOT (FRENCH, 1743-1809): A FINE PAIR OF MID 19TH CENTURY BRONZE FIGURAL GROUPS OF ‘THE RAPE OF PROSERPINA’ AND ‘THE ABDUCTION OF ORITHYIA BY BOREAS’ Boreas depicted on a cloud base, Pluto abducting Proserpina on a naturalistic base cast with a cylindrical plinth and an upturned basket of flowers, both on circular bases and with dark brown patination, 47cm high and 43cm high (2) LITERATURE: J.G. Mann, Wallace Collection Catalogues: Sculpture – Marbles, Terra-Cottas and Bronzes, Carvings in Ivory and Wood, Plaquettes, Medals, Coins, and Wax-Reliefs, London, 1931, pp. 65-66, ills. 50-51. Knoedler Gallery, Catalogue of the French Bronze 1500-1800, exhib. New York 1968, no. 80a-b. MUSEUM COMPARABLE: Wallace Collection, London, Inv. No. S197 and S196 for a pair of 19th century examples of similar size to the present pair. AUCTION COMPARABLE: Sotheby’s Amsterdam, 29 September 2008, , sold 27,000 euros. This pair of extremely finely executed bronzes are cast after models conceived by Boizot for reproduction in Sevres biscuit porcelain which he exhibited at the Salon of 1786. They are derived from the well-known full size marble groups originally made for the gardens of Versailles in the second half of the 17th century by Gaspard Marsy (1628-1681) and François Giradon (1636-1711),The marble sculptures formed part of a group of twenty four figures commissioned by King Louis XIV and sketches for these statues are preserved in the Cabinet des desseins at the Louvre.