23rd Mar, 2019 10:00 GMT/BST
Spring Fine Art Sale (Part II)
616
School of Antonio Canova (1757-1822): A White Marble Bust of Napoleon as Mars Pacificus,...
The present bust is derived from the colossal marble statue of Napoleon as Mars Pacificus currently in Apsley House, London, which was rejected by Napoleon because of the statue's nudity. Canova then produced a bust derived from the full-length original which is now in Chatsworth House, Derbyshire. Subsequently, Canova's Roman studio produced marble versions of the bust and Napoleon's sister Elisa Boneparte Baciocchi, the Duchess of Lucca, established a workshop at the quarries in Carrara that specialised in the reproduction of Imperial marble portraits by sculptors such as Lorenzo Bartolini, Antoine Denis Chaudet and Baron François Bosto. It is recorded that between 1808 and 1814 forty-two Carrara workshop marbles of Canova's bust of Napoleon in colossal and life-size scale were received for sale in Paris and it is possible that the present lot is one of these examples.
For an example by Lorenzo Bartolini, signed with initials, see Sotheby's Old Master Sculpture and Works of Art, London, 9.7.15, lot 184. Another anonymous example is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, accession no.2015.489
Sold for £25,000
Estimated at £5,000 - £7,000
. Socle missing. 2cm x 1cm chip to hair at rear of head and similar smaller chip close by. 3cm section of rim at true left shoulder possibly polished, disguise of chip 1cm flat chip to true right shoulder rim. Other minor chips and flakes, particularly to edges. Some surface wear. Pedestal with some deep scratches, flakes and minor losses. 170319
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Auction: Spring Fine Art Sale (Part II), 23rd Mar, 2019
Spring Fine Art Sale (Part II)
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