Attributed to Hubert Gerhard (circa 1540/1550 – 1620 born 's-Hertogenbosch) South German, circa 1590

probably a portrait of Julius Caesar

Sotheby's, London, 9 July 1987, lot 80

Beautiful golden brown patina, standard surface abrasions/dents, and some abrasions on tip of nose. Otherwise very good condition.
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Together with Adrien de Vries, Hubert Gerhard was the most important follower of Giambologna active north of the Alps. In 1581, Gerhard left Florence and returned to his native Germany. While he was not known to have a workshop per se, Gerhard hired sculptors and bronze casters to complete his monumental projects for the foremost patrons of the time, including Hans Fugger and the Dukes of Bavaria. Moreover, Gerhard influenced a generation of sculptors with his Mannerist vocabulary and distinctive style.

The present bust of a Roman Emperor is extremely similar in facial type and surface treatment to both a bronze ideal portrait of a Roman Emperor, circa 1585/90 in the Munich Residenz (Diemer, op. cit., vol. II, cat. no. G 11, p. 289) and a monumental figure of Augustus Caesar, 1590, in the Maximilianmuseum, Augsburg (Diemer, op. cit., vol. II, cat. 8, pp. 210 and 211) (fig. 1).  In each of these sculptures, Gerhard demonstrates a consistent interest in achieving a variety of textures in metal producing highly filed and polished skin, combined with vigorously modelled hair, and fastidiously chased drapery and armour. Moreover, the drapery is punched to create a matt finish, a goldsmith’s technique Gerhard frequently employed on small bronzes, much like the tiny dashes on the surface of the fabric beneath the armour of the Munich portrait. On both the Augustus and the present bust, the modelling is distinct: the nasal labial folds are pronounced (also evident on his royal portraits) as are the markedly large almond-shaped eyes with boldly incised irises framed by a prominent brow. Comparable attention is paid to the vigorous modelling of the hair, beard and eyes in the wax model, with no subsequent cold working.

In 1581, Gerhard went to Augsburg and created a gilt bronze altar for the wealthy banking family of Fugger. Subsequently he created two extraordinary public fountains for Augsburg, the Augustus fountain, still in situ, and the Wittelsbach Fountain in a courtyard of the Residenz in Munich. Gerhard’s third great fountain, cast in 1592-94 for the Fugger Castle at Kircheim, was taken down in 1800; door handles and door knockers from the castle survive in the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe in Hamburg. The design of the armour on the present bust, incorporating a grotesque mask on the pauldron, is a device Gerhard repeats throughout his work and is incorporated into some of the aforementioned door knockers as well as the elaborately modelled armour on some of his most distinguished sculptures.

Once the Bavarian Duke, Wilhelm V, took Gerhard into his service, the majority of his time in Munich was spent making monumental bronzes. However, he was sought after by other patrons to produce bronzes on an intimate scale, such as the flying Mercury for an Augsburg copper trader (Munich, Bavarian National Museum, circa 1590-94). 

RELATED LITERATURE
D. Diemer, Hubert Gerhard und Carlo di Cesare del Palagio Bronzplastiker der Spätrenaissance, 2 vols., Berlin, 2004