German, 16th century

Leon Bagrit, London

Y. Hackenbroch, 'Bronzes in the collection of Mr Leon Bagrit: part II - the female nude', The Connoisseur, CXLIII, January-June 1959, figs. 7 and 8

Overall the condition of the bronze is good with dirt and wear to the surface consistent with age. It has been cast in sections and a joint line is visible on her proper right lower arm. There is a lacuna to her inner proper left arm due to a casting flaw and a few further smaller lacunae, most prominently to the base at the reverse. There is some wear to the patina, such as to Venus's inner proper left lower leg and her proper right hip. Two drill holes are visible on the underside. The underside is numbered: 968 in black ink.
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The present bronze compares closely with small German bronzes dating to the 16th century, such as some illustrated by Chipps Smith (op. cit.). When Hackenbroch recorded the collection of Leon Bagrit, she attributed the present bronze to Loy Hering and dated it to Augsburg, circa 1525 (op. cit.). However, Hering's medium of choice was his local limestone and the sculptor did not work in bronze. His limestone on slate relief of Rhea Silvia in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, is known in later bronze copies (inv. no. 4888-1858).

RELATED LITERATURE
J. Chipps Smith, German sculpture of the later Renaissance c. 1520-1580. Art in the age of uncertainty, Princeton, 1994, pp. 207, 279 and 295, nos. 170, 243 and 295