Eduard (1812) Mayer Sold at Auction Prices

A bust of a young woman in a laurel wreath

Eduard Mayer (1812 - 1881), who came from the Hunsrück region, probably began his training with Christian Daniel Rauch in around 1835. From 1840 to 1842 he worked in Paris under Pierre-Jean David d'Angers. There he became acquainted with the new style of French Realism. From 1842 onwards, Mayer undertook several longer sojourns to Rome, where he probably also had a studio, although nothing concrete is known about it today. However, it is certain that this bust was created there in 1845. The work testifies to his intense interest in the work of Bertel Thorvaldsen, who died in 1844. Thorvaldsen's bust of the Peacemaking Mars from 1808/09 is today housed in the Malachite Room of the Orangery in Potsdam. It is possible that Mayer was familiar with this sculpture, and if not this exact piece, then with other similar works created by this influential Danish sculptor active in Rome. Mayer's Mercury as Argus Slayer, which can be admired in the National Gallery in Berlin, is also based on a similar depiction by Thorvaldsen (today in the Thorvaldsen Museum in Copenhagen). In his entry in the National Gallery's catalogue, Bernhard Maaz not only details the parallels between this artist's works and those of Thorvaldsen, but also the differences. In Mayer's sculptures, the forms appear more naturalistic and more clearly detached from antique prototypes. The bust shown here also comes closer to an idealised portrait than a copy of a work from antiquity. Nevertheless, the similarities with Thorvaldsen's works are obvious, although they are found more in the work's expressive nature than its style. Like the depiction of Hebe in the Thorvaldsen Museum in Copenhagen (inv. no. A875), the young woman radiates a quiet concentration, an introversion that creates distance. The slightly lowered head and the averted gaze may contribute to this. It is thus highly likely that the work is intended to be an allegory of poetry.