Sculpture

This Franz Bergman cold-painted bronze figure will feature in Maynards’ June 26 sale to be held in Richmond, British Columbia.

When Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863), leading artist of the French Romantic school, died in 1863, the Ecole des Beaux-Arts commissioned a bust to commemorate the painter and embody his genius.

Inside Manchester Airport stands a sculpture dedicated to John Alcock and Arthur Brown, two aviators who made the first non-stop transatlantic flight in June 1919.

'Grand Fourmilier' (1906), a large bronze sculpture of a giant anteater, is distinctive among a collection of bronze sculptures by Rembrandt Bugatti (1884-1916) offered at a Sladmore Gallery exhibition.

This over life-sized marble bust depicts Emperor Didius Julianus, who ruled the Roman empire for just a few short months in the year 193AD. His fleeting 66-day reign took place during the tumultuous period known as ‘The Year of the Five Emperors’ and came to a grisly end when he was murdered by a common soldier.

Although the antiquities market is more stringently regulated than ever before, the possibility of illicit material continues to cause concern for collectors of antiquities. This places a greater financial value on pieces with long watertight provenances.

On May 17 Stair Galleries in Hudson, New York, is selling the collection of Indian artefacts from the estate of David Swope of Ossining, NY.

Two highly different examples of sculptural art caused the greatest stir at the sale of works of art at Kinsky (25% buyer’s premium) in Vienna on April 8-10. First up was the 3ft 5in (1.05m) high lime-wood sculpture of the Madonna with Child, flanked by two angels.

The biggest surprise at the sale of works of art at Koller (25/22/15% buyer’s premium) in Zurich on March 28 was the result for a bronze figure by Jean Louis Ernest Meissonier (1815-91).

A Mannerist bronze after Giambologna and a rediscovered oil sketch by Peter Paul Rubens posted seven-figure sums during the series of sales coinciding with the Salon du Dessin fair in Paris.