Franz von Stuck

Overall the condition of the bronze is excellent with some minor wear to the patina consistent with age. The original casting joints around the feet are slightly visible.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Stuck modelled the Athlete in 1892, after he returned from a trip to Rome in the company of his friend and fellow artist Max Klinger. It was his first independent bronze sculpture, and would become one of his most popular. In 1897/98 he added the Dancer on a similar round base as a female counterpart. The artist exhibited both bronzes together at the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1900. Just as the Athlete is strongly inspired by ancient Graeco-Roman sculptures, the Dancer transposes the billowing drapery of ancient reliefs of Dancing Maenads into the third dimension, softening the flow of undulating folds according to an art nouveau sensibility. The bronze may have been inspired by a contest to complete the torso of a Dancing Maenad in the Berlin museum in 1897. But Stuck had already explored the subject of Dancing Maenads in his polychrome plaster relief Serpentinen-Tänzerinnen in 1895.

Beyond the reception of antiquity, the pair of figures also had a more personal meaning for the artist. While the Athlete, for its facial features, is generally interpreted as an idealised self-portrait of the artist, he apparently used his fiancée and soon thereafter wife, the American-born Maria Louisa Hoose Lindpaintner (from Newtown, Long Island), as a model for the Dancer. The present cast of the Dancer is signed "Franz Stuck" and therefore must date from before the ennoblement of the artist in 1905. However, the Athlete offered here is signed "Franz von Stuck" and dates from thereafter.