Raffaello Bartoletti
Bacchante
Estimate £150,000-200,000
This exuberant marble represents an exciting rediscovery from the little-known oeuvre of the Florentine sculptor, Raffaele Bartoletti. Its beautiful composition and brilliant technical execution reveal Bartoletti to have been an artist of remarkable skill and imagination.
Ferdinando Andreini
La Bagnante (The Bather)
Estimate £70,000-100,000
This beautiful marble belongs to a series of sculptures by Andreini, executed during the last quarter of the 19th century, focusing on nudes or scantily-clad figures. With its delicate features and finely executed face and drapery, this marble is a prime example of Italian Romantic Sculpture.
Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux
L’Amour Désarmé, esquisse (Sketch of Cupid Disarmed)
Estimate £40,0000-60,000
The present bronze is part of an exclusive edition limited to fifteen numbered casts, executed by the Hébrard Foundry. The bronze sketch exhibits a lightness of touch which lends it a modernist aesthetic.
Alessandro Rondoni
Sira, schiava di Fabiola (Syra, Fabiola’s Slave)
Estimate £40,000-60,000
This dramatic marble of the fictional slave girl Sira is a rare work by the accomplished Italian sculptor Alessandro Rondoni. The sculpture is a reduction of what is arguably Rondoni’s masterpiece, which is housed in the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna in Rome.
Prince Paul Troubetzkoy
Carlo Bugatti
Estimate £30,000-50,000
This magnificent statuette representing Carlo Bugatti is exemplary of Troubetzkoy’s genius as a portraitist. Carlo Bugatti, the distinguished Italian designer, was a close personal friend of Troubetzkoy.
Louis Dejean
Torso
Estimate £30,000-50,000
This beautiful bronze reveals Louis Dejean’s shift towards a more severe classical style, which he adopted after the Great War. Dejean is mostly known for being Auguste Rodin’s pupil, and for his monumental statue of Peace made for the S.S Normandie.
Joseph-Antoine Bernard
La Danse des Roses
Estimate £30,000-50,000
La Danse des Roses is exemplary of Bernard’s preoccupation with the theme of dance during the early years of the 20th century, and was first modelled in plaster in 1905. The present bronze shows one dancer in consecutive poses, as a series of stills from a motion picture.
Italian, 19th century
After the Antique
Bust of Antinous
Estimate £30,000-40,000
This beautifully carved marble follows the celebrated Braschi Antinous in the Musei Vaticani, Rome. A plaster copy of the present marble is at Castle Howard in Yorkshire. Antinous was the male lover of the Roman Emperor Hadrian, and was celebrated throughout history for his good looks, becoming a symbol of same sex love.
Prince Paul Troubetzkoy (1866-1938)
Portrait of a Seated Lady
Estimate £25,000-35,000
The present model is reminiscent of Troubetzkoy’s celebrated portrait of Marchesa Luisa Casati. Troubetzkoy was a gifted sculptor of the society portrait, and particularly mastered the seated pose, which became a trademark for his work.
Cesare Lapini
Odalisca
Estimate £25,000-35,000
Cesare Lapini specialized in allegorical and genre sculptures which he sold to an elite global clientele with great success. The present marble is exemplary of his carving skills, visible especially in the Odalisca’s luxurious fan.
Sotheby’s dedicated sale of 19th & 20th Century Sculpture will showcase some of the finest Neoclassical, Romantic, and Modernist statuary on the market. This July’s diverse selection is led by opulent Italian marble nudes by Raffaello Bartoletti and Ferdinando Andreini. Further highlights include elegant portraits by Prince Paul Troubetzkoy, and important early modernist bronzes by Louis Dejean and Joseph-Antoine Bernard. Click above to discover highlights from the sale.