(Five Centuries: Furniture, Paintings & Works of Art, 5th February 2020) POSSIBLY THE CIRCLE OF GERMAIN PILON (1535-1590) AND/OR BARTHÉLEMY PRIEUR (BERZIEUX 1540-1611, PARIS) FRENCH GILT BRONZE FIGURE OF THE VIRGIN AND CHILD, POSSIBLY EARLY 17TH CENTURY traditionally depicted, previously mounted 17.5cm high Note: Pilon is famed for his allegorical figures in marble and bronze: first for the Tomb of King Francis I in the Abbey of St Denis, Paris; then, in 1559, the Monument for the heart of King Henri II, with a group of the Three Graces, the epitome of French Mannerist figure-sculpture; and, finally, the Tomb of King Henri II, again in St. Denis. Prieur was a French follower as court sculptor of Pilon, working in stone and marble: he specialised in casting bronze statuettes in commercial series. Characteristic of Prieur’s many statuettes of young women – usually secular, nearly nude, classical nymphs – is the profile of the face such as is used here for the Virgin Mary: a high forehead, sloping back in an almost Grecian continuous line from a small nose, with a receding hairline, while small pursed lips appear above a daintily receding chin. Close too is the coiffure, where a plait of hair is wound round the crown of the head in a neat circle. This group is not dissimilar from a figure of the Virgin alone (sometimes paired with a St John the Evangelist from under a Crucifix), of which three examples are known, and one of which was given to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, after a sale at Sotheby’s in 1996. Similarities between that figure and the present statuette in style, dress (especially the drapery on their backs) and physiognomy support a tentative attribution to the circle of practitioners around the two sculptors, though its treatment is not as refined as theirs normally is.
(Five Centuries: Furniture, Paintings & Works of Art, 5th February 2020) POSSIBLY THE CIRCLE OF GERMAIN PILON (1535-1590) AND/OR BARTHÉLEMY PRIEUR (BERZIEUX 1540-1611, PARIS) FRENCH GILT BRONZE FIGURE OF THE VIRGIN AND CHILD, POSSIBLY EARLY 17TH CENTURY traditionally depicted, previously mounted 17.5cm high Note: Pilon is famed for his allegorical figures in marble and bronze: first for the Tomb of King Francis I in the Abbey of St Denis, Paris; then, in 1559, the Monument for the heart of King Henri II, with a group of the Three Graces, the epitome of French Mannerist figure-sculpture; and, finally, the Tomb of King Henri II, again in St. Denis. Prieur was a French follower as court sculptor of Pilon, working in stone and marble: he specialised in casting bronze statuettes in commercial series. Characteristic of Prieur’s many statuettes of young women – usually secular, nearly nude, classical nymphs – is the profile of the face such as is used here for the Virgin Mary: a high forehead, sloping back in an almost Grecian continuous line from a small nose, with a receding hairline, while small pursed lips appear above a daintily receding chin. Close too is the coiffure, where a plait of hair is wound round the crown of the head in a neat circle. This group is not dissimilar from a figure of the Virgin alone (sometimes paired with a St John the Evangelist from under a Crucifix), of which three examples are known, and one of which was given to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, after a sale at Sotheby’s in 1996. Similarities between that figure and the present statuette in style, dress (especially the drapery on their backs) and physiognomy support a tentative attribution to the circle of practitioners around the two sculptors, though its treatment is not as refined as theirs normally is.
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.jpg "Quelle: Christie's")
.jpg "Quelle: Christie's")
