GUILLIELMUS DE GROF (1676-1742) | PAIR OF GROUPS WITH PUTTI REPRESENTING SEASONS

Another pair of casts of the present models by de Grof are preserved in the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum (inv. nos. E241 and E242). Guillielmus (or Guillaume) De Grof was born in Antwerp in circa 1676, training as a sculptor in Paris, where he eventually entered into the service of Louis XIV. In 1714 he created his seminal equestrian group, the magnificent bronze Apotheosis of Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria (Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, inv. no. R3973), commissioned in 1714, whilst Maximilian Emanuel was living in exile in Paris. In 1716, after the Elector had returned to power, De Grof moved to Bavaria, where he became court sculptor, modelling the now lost lead garden sculptures for the Nymphenburg and Schleißheim palaces.

RELATED LITERATURE

H. R. Weihrauch, Die Bildwerke in Bronze und in anderen Metallen, cat. Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, vol. XIII, 5, Munich, 1956, pp. 198-199, nos. 241-242