19th and 20th Century Sculpture

19th and 20th Century Sculpture

View full screen - View 1 of Lot 111. AFTER PRINCE PAUL TROUBETZKOY RUSSIAN, 1866-1938 | CARLO BUGATTI.

AFTER PRINCE PAUL TROUBETZKOY RUSSIAN, 1866-1938 | CARLO BUGATTI

Auction Closed

July 10, 03:03 PM GMT

Estimate

30,000 - 50,000 GBP

Lot Details

Description

AFTER PRINCE PAUL TROUBETZKOY

Russian

1866-1938

CARLO BUGATTI


signed and dated: Paul Troubetzkoy / Milano 1899, dedicated: All'amico Bugatti and inscribed: Robecchi fuse / Milano

bronze, red-brown patina

45cm., 17¾in. overall

Please note that this bronze may be a posthumous cast, or made in the last decade of Troubtezkoy's life, from the 1899 Robecchi foundry cast. Therefore the description in the catalogue should read After Prince Paul Troubetzoy.

With his Russian and aristocratic origins, his travels around the world and residing for some time in Italy, Prince Paul Troubetzkoy is considered a fascinating personality of the 19th and 20th century. In his sculptures he captured figures from the glittering world of the international elite as well as artists, poets and friends, such as Gabriele d’Annunzio and Rodin.


The present portrait is exemplary of the sculptor's genius as a portraitist. The bronze shows Troubetzkoy’s friend and distinguished Italian designer, Carlo Bugatti, in a standing pose. Troubetzkoy had always been close to Carlo Bugatti and his family, especially his son Rembrandt, so much that he portrayed him in another of his sculptures, now visible at the Museo del Paesaggio in Verbania (inv. no. 38).


The statuette of Carlo Bugatti, in a formal pose, is a fine example of Troubetzkoy’s ability in modelling the material through his slick cut and shape, especially visible in Bugatti’s coat and hat. Troubetzkoy has depicted Bugatti in his signature attire with very high-waisted trousers, held in place just under the arms by short suspenders, and covered by a long coat. Apparently Bugatti designed this distinctive garb due to medical problems that prevented him from belting trousers at the waist (Pappers et al., op. cit., p. 15). 


RELATED LITERATURE

D. Pappers and W. Oude Weernink, Bugatti: Auto's, Meubels en Beelden van de Familie Bugatti, exh. cat. Beurs van Berlage, Amsterdam, 1998, p. 15; G. Piantoni and P. Venturoli, Paolo Troubetzkoy 1866-1938, exh. cat. Museo del Paesaggio, Verbania Pallanza, 1990, p. 162