19th and 20th Century Sculpture

19th and 20th Century Sculpture

View full screen - View 1 of Lot 12. Leda and the Swan.

Emanuele Caroni

Leda and the Swan

Lot Closed

December 9, 01:21 PM GMT

Estimate

20,000 - 30,000 GBP

Lot Details

Description

Emanuele Caroni

Italian

b. 1826

Leda and the Swan


signed and dated: E:le Caroni / Firenze / a:no 1875

white marble, on a mottled white marble base

group: 86 by 75cm., 34 by 29 1/2 in.

base: 86 by 69 by 52cm., 34 by 27 1/4 by 20 1/2 in.

Private collection, United Kingdom

Caroni worked between Milan and Florence, first as the student of Vincenzo Vela and subsequently of Lorenzo Bartolini, respectively. After his political involvement in the 1848 struggle against the Austrians, known as the Cinque Giorante de Milano, Caroni settled permanently in Florence. His exceptional technical skill was internationally recognised and Caroni exhibited to acclaim in France and the USA. Caroni seems to have been particularly popular with British collectors. An outstanding marble nude entitled the Albanian Slave, from the collection of Dr Theodore Thompson, sold at Christie’s London as lot 100 on 10 September 2013 for £193,875. Caroni’s group of The Triumph of Love over Force, a marble of exquisite quality, was owned by the Firmstone family of Wordsley Manor, West Midlands. Another version of his Leda and the Swan is today in the Nottingham Castle Museum and Art Gallery.


In exceptionally good condition, the present group epitomizes Caroni’s superb skill in representing complex textures in marble, here contrasting the abundant feathers of the swan with Leda’s delicate skin. His choice of subject seems to be motivated more by the opportunity to demonstrate his virtuosic skill as a carver as by the telling of the mythological tale. His interest in combining the subject of a child and animals is repeated in his Triumph of Love over Force which depicts Cupid seated on a large, submissive lion.