Live Auction 3709Old Master Paintings & Sculpture Part II
A PAIR OF BRONZE GROUPS OF THE RAPE OF SABINES AND THE RAPE OF PROSERPINE
Lot 236 Property of the Saint Louis Art Museum, Sold to Benefit the Acquisitions Fund.

A PAIR OF BRONZE GROUPS OF THE RAPE OF SABINES AND THE RAPE OF PROSERPINE

FRENCH, THE FIRST AFTER GIAMBOLOGNA, THE SECOND AFTER FRANCOIS GIRARDON, LATE 18TH / 19TH CENTURY

Closed29 January 2015

Price Realised

USD 43,750

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A PAIR OF BRONZE GROUPS OF THE RAPE OF SABINES AND THE RAPE OF PROSERPINE
FRENCH, THE FIRST AFTER GIAMBOLOGNA, THE SECOND AFTER FRANCOIS GIRARDON, LATE 18TH / 19TH CENTURY
Both on molded ormolu bases
24 ½ in. (62.2 cm.) high, 10 ½ in. deep (the Rape of Sabines group), without base
21 ¼ in. (54.6 cm.) high, 9 ¾ in. (24.8 cm.) wide (the Rape of Proserpine group), without base

Baroness de Lareinty, Paris.
Seligmann, Rey & Co. Galleries, Paris.
Hugo W. Blumenthal, New York, NY, USA (1894-1969), purchased from Seligmann, Rey & Co., 1919.
Klejman Galleries, New York, 1957.
Saint Louis Art Museum, purchased from Klejman Galleries, 1957.

Specialist note

These bronze groups, each representing a complex multi-figure composition, are derived from different sources but have been put together to create a new, and highly decorative, pair. The Abduction of Proserpina by Girardon was originally conceived as a marble as part of a commission of four marble groups by different artists for the first Parterre d'Eau at Versailles (F. Souchal, French Sculptors of the 17th and 18th Centuries, Paris 1981, p. 42). The Girardon group is dated 1699. The Rape of a Sabine Woman is considered to be Giambologna's greatest achievement in marble. It was unveiled in the Loggia dei Lanzi, Florence, on 14 January, 1583 (C. Avery, Giambologna: The Complete Sculpture, Oxford, 1987, pp. 109-114).