Lot 724: A DUTCH TERRACOTTA GROUP OF TWO ALLEGORICAL FEMALES AND A LION, CIRCLE OF LOUIS ROYER (1793-1868) FIRST HALF 19TH CENTURY

A DUTCH TERRACOTTA GROUP OF TWO ALLEGORICAL FEMALES AND A LION, CIRCLE OF LOUIS ROYER (1793-1868) FIRST HALF 19TH CENTURY finely modelled in full round, both crowned classical maidens depicted standing flanking a lion with fasces, one maiden with caduceus and plough probably allegorical for Liberty ; inv. no. B-119 (2) 48 cm. high

As was the case in most countries, Dutch neoclassical sculpture was mainly influenced by the work of Antonio Canova. Not only did the legendary sculptor attract the patronage of the royal family in the form of the monument to Prince William Frederick of Orange, the three main exponents of Dutch sculpture from the first half of the 19υth century -Paul Joseph Gabriel, Mathieu Kessels and Louis Royer- all sought out Canova's workshop in Rome. Shortly after Canova's death King William I donated 8 plaster copies of Canova's major marbles to the Royal Academy in Amsterdam. It is therefore not surprising that the figures in the present terracotta relate closely to types seen in Canova's work: the complex drapery, crowns in the form of walls and the lion are all near quotations, for example of the figures from the Funerary monument for Horatio Nelson kept in Possagno. Such quotations are regular features of Louis Royer's work and indeed, the formal composition and classicised beauty of the maidens in the present terracotta remind one of Royer's Gravura and Pictura in the Rijksmuseum (RBK 15522-3).



Without the attributes of the left figure it is difficult to ascertain the precise meaning of the group. The figure on the right carries a caduceus, a symbol of peace and has a rudder to the reverse, which represents wealth. The bundle of arrows on which the lion rests its paw and the holding of hands both symbolise unity. As such one could interpret the group as an allegory of the unity between the Northern and Southern Netherlands (1814-1839).

RELATED LITERATURE
P. van Daalen, Nederlandse beeldhouwers in de negentiende eeuw, The Hague, 1957, pp. 7-9 and 19-24; M. Praz and G. Pavanello, L'opera completa del Canova, Milan, 1976, pp. 116-17, nos. 192-93; W. Bergé, Heimwee naar de klassieken. De beelden van Mathieu Kessels en zijn tijdgenote, 1815-1840, exh. cat. Noordbrabants Museum, 's Hertogenbosch/ Zwolle, 1994, pp. 156-57, nos. 65-6