Sale highlights, selected by our specialists.

Auction Highlights

The concept of ideal female beauty runs through the history of European sculpture. At the beginning of the 19th century, Antonio Canova set a new standard of facial perfection with his teste ideale or Ideal heads each of which represent female muses. Prosper d’Epinay’s Vénus au bain exemplifies the concept of classical beauty, with her drapery which cascades across the shoulders in superb Grecian folds. Drapery is used to connotate modesty, the corollary to ideal beauty, in Urbano Lucchesi’s The Chaste Susanna. Beginning with the French ethnographic sculptor Charles Cordier, 19th-century artists began to broaden their horizons and look beyond the classical canon of beauty. Herbert Ward’s Woman from the Congo is both a brilliant portrait which recalls Canova’s attempts to find facial perfection, whilst simultaneously highlighting the troubling themes of colonialisation and objectification.

The concept of ideal female beauty running through the history of European sculpture.

The Essence of Beauty

The physical energy in this sale ranges from the gliding movement of the Il Genio de la Pesca by Pio Fedi, standing on a dolphin, to the exaggerated contraposto pose of the marble Farnese Hercules, to the romantic power of Barye’s bronze horses, including his vibrant Tartar Warrior Halting his Horse and Theseus fighting the centaur Biénor. The sale also includes a wax sketch of Leighton’s Sluggard, which evokes the naturalistic movement of stretching in a pure manner. The expert terracotta modeling of Carrier-Belleuse builds fine tension and movement throughout his complex and elaborate compositions.

19th and 20th century sculptors aspired to simulate convincing physical movement and dynamic energy, which is highlighted by various vibrant sculptures in this sale.

Physical Energy

London

Head of Department, Europe, European Sculpture and Works of Art

Christopher Mason

Associate Specialist, European Sculpture and Works of Art

Elena Nies

Senior Vice President, Worldwide Head of Department, European Sculpture and Works of Art

Margaret H Schwartz

Senior Director, Head of Department, European Sculpture & Works of Art

Francesco Morroni

Director, Head of Department, European Sculpture & Works of Art

Cataloguer, European Sculpture & Works of Art

Clémence Bertrand

International Consultant, European Sculpture & Works of Art

Alexander Kader

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Sotheby’s July sale of 19th &amp; 20th Century Sculpture is led by a an exceptional selection of marble sculpture, including the magnificent statue of Il Genio della Pesca by Pio Fedi, Automne by Jean-Baptiste, called Auguste Clésinger, and an imposing marble version of Prosper d’Epinay’s Vénus au bain. Further highlights include a mixed media sculpture of Nature unveiling itself before science by Louis-Ernest Barrias, and several bronzes by the prolific animalier sculptor, Antoine-Louis Barye.