拍品 85
  • 85

Attributed to Claude David (active 1695-1722) French, early 18th century

估價
30,000 - 50,000 GBP
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招標截止

描述

  • Polyphemus Devouring a Sailor
  • white marble
  • Attributed to Claude David (active 1695-1722) French, early 18th century

來源

Sir Thomas Parker, 1st Earl of Macclesfield, Shirburn Castle, Oxfordshire
and thence by family descent until 2005

Condition

Overall the condition is good with some minor wear and dirt to the surface consistent with age. There is some faint naturally occurring veining visible, including one running along the proper right shoulder. There are some minor inclusions consistent with material, including an area at the proper right foot. The top of the staff has been lost as has the foot of the sailor’s leg.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

拍品資料及來源

The attribution of the present marble to Claude David is due to striking similarities with the style, composition and scale of a marble Vulcan (or possibly Prometheus) chained to a rock by Claude David formerly owned by Sir Andrew Fountaine (1676-1753) and now in the Victoria and Albert Museum (inv. no. A.3-1981).

David was born in Burgundy and is therefore likely to have been trained as a sculptor in France. By the 1690s, however, he was in Italy, finishing a statue of St. Bartholomew started by Pierre Puget and carving further marbles for the church of S. Maria Assunta di Carignano in Genova. There he seems to have attracted the attention of Charles Henri, Prince de Vaudémont, who, in turn, introduced the sculptor to William III, King of England. The King promptly invited the sculptor to join him in London and for some 20 years after that David would supply statuary for some of England's foremost country houses. Other commissions include a fine monument for the Carteret family in Westminster Abbey, which is adorned with a personification of Time that resembles the present figure. Since the Earl of Macclesfield purchased his castle near Watlington in 1716 when David was in England, it is plausible that the present marble was commissioned directly from David during its refurbishments.

Polyphemus, the man-eating King of the Cyclopedes, appears throughout mythology. He crushed Acis with a boulder after courting Galatea and captured Ulysses and his men on their return from the Trojan war. The latter escaped the one-eyed giant by blinding him with a tree-trunk and escaping his cave under the cover of a sheep.

RELATED LITERATURE
S. Lami, Dictionnaire des sculpteurs de l’école française sous le règne de Louis XIV, Nendeln, 1970, pp. 141-142; M. Whinney, Sculpture in Britain 1530-1830, 1988, p. 449, n. 15; M. Baker, Figured in marble. The making and viewing of eighteenth-century sculpture, London, 2000, pp. 28-33