Alceo Dossena (1878-1937) | Italian, circa 1900 | Theseus and Antiope

Please note that this lot will be sent to our Greenford Park warehouse following the sale.

Probably Jacob Hirsch, (1874-1955);
The Cleveland Museum of Art;
Ars Classica, Thomas Virzi (1881-1974), no. 306, New York;
private collection Switzerland;
where acquired by the present owner

F. Studniczka, 'Neue archaische Marmorskulpturen - Falsches und Echtes', in Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, 43, 1928, 149-170, pp. 16-20, fig. 13-14;
G. M. A. Richter, The Sculpture and Sculptors of the Greeks, New Haven and London, 1950, pp. 189, 537, fig. 555;
W. Lussetti, Alceo Dossena scultore, Rome 1955, figs. 1-2;
B. Ashmole, 'An alleged archaic group', in The Journal of Hellenic Studies, vol L, part. I, 1930, pp. 99-104, pl. V-VI;
EAA "Falsificazione", pp. 582-589, fig. 702;
'La tradition du faux,' The Charming Magazine

Alceo Dossena is one of the most interesting and arguably controversial sculptors active in the first decades of the 20th century. A native of Cremona, he excelled in carving mesmerisingly virtuoso interpretations of marbles from ancient world through to the Italian Renaissance. Unfortunately many of his works were acquired by unscrupulous art dealers during his lifetime and sold to collectors and institutions as period sculptures, without the artist's knowledge. Dossena successfully sued his dealers and won damages.

The present group follows the famous fragment from the temple of Apollo at Eretria on the island of Euboea. Eretria was allied to Athens in the Persian wars and sacked in 490 BC by Persian forces, the temple destroyed. The early 5th-century original fragment shows Theseus, legendary king of Athens, snatching the Amazon Antiope.