A FRENCH PATINATED BRONZE RECLINING FIGURE OF A MAN, EMBLEMATIC OF AFRICA

Emblematic of Africa, the present bronze is a reduction of one of four monumental marble statues, two female and two male, representing the Quatre parties du monde sculptured by Bartholdi for the monument to Admiral Bruat in Colmar. The monument visible today is a replacement dating to 1958; the original was destroyed during the invasion of 1940. Bartholdi exhibited the constituent parts of the monument at the 1863 Paris Salon (no.2237). The Musée Bartholdi in Colmar holds numerous terracotta and plaster maquettes for the monument including the preliminary terracotta figures for the present bronze. Another cast of Africa was sold together with a pendant figure emblematic of Asia, Sotheby's, London, 16 November 2006, lot 43 (£19,200).