Lot 208: BARON PIOTR KARLOVICH KLODT VON JURGENSBURG, 1805-1867

YOUNG MAN TRIUMPHING OVER A WILD HORSE
YOUNG MAN FALLING TO THE GROUND AS HE TRIES TO MOUNT A HORSE

YOUNG MAN TRIUMPHING OVER A WILD HORSE
YOUNG MAN FALLING TO THE GROUND AS HE TRIES TO MOUNT A HORSE

height of largest 38cm., 15in

Young man falling to the ground as he tries to mount a horse bears a label for Hvidore Palace, both Cast in the Academy of St Petersburg

ormolu and bronze, dark brown patina

Quantity: 2

PROVENANCE

Tsarina Maria Feodorovna, Anichkov Palace, later removed to Hvidore Palace, Denmark, circa 1906.

NOTE

These magnificent bronze groups are models for two of the four monumental bronze statues by Baron Klodt known collectively as The Horse Tamers, and mounted at each corner of Anichkov Bridge in St. Petersburg. The bronze groups are beautifully cast and chased, are examples of some of the artist's finest work, and were formerly in the collection of Empress Maria Feodorovna, wife of Alexander III.

Baron Klodt studied under the master V.P. Akimov, and was renowned as the first Russian sculptor to cast his own works in bronze, and also for his exceptional equine models. Other important commissions with similar subjects include the six horses surmounting the Narva Gate and the equestrian monument to Tsar Nicholas I in St. Isaac's Square.

In 1830 Tsar Nicolas I first commissioned The Horse Tamers. Initially Klodt only worked on two of the four groups showing the boys standing in control of the horses. Three years later the plaster models for the pair was finished and the Tsar approved the manufacture on a large scale. It is not believed that The Horse Tamers were initially intended for the Anichkov Bridge, indeed it has been suggested they were planned for the decoration of the embankment near the Academy of Arts. However in 1839 when the reconstruction of Anichkov Bridge began, it was deemed a more fitting platform for the sculptures.

On November 20^th 1841 the official opening of the new bridge took place. Only two of the models had been cast in bronze and inscribed: Sculpted and cast by Klodt. The other pair, seemingly identical, was in fact formed from painted plaster and alabaster. Curiously, it seems that the Tsar was unaware of this counterfeiting, since in 1842 he gave the order for a set of two of the bronzes to be sent to the King of Prussia. The sculptures sent were those that had been recently cast in bronze to replace the plaster models on the bridge. Originally they were placed infront of the Old Palace in Berlin but from 1945 were moved to their current position in the Kleistpark in Berlin. In 1844 Klodt cast a second group of bronze sculptures to replace the plaster models. However in 1846 at the Tsar's behest they were sent to King Ferdinand of the Two Sicilies. They were placed in front of the royal place on Via San Carlo in Naples where they are still to be found today. Once again Klodt reinstalled the plaster models on the East side of Anichkov Bridge, but decided to create a new design for the remaining equine groups.

Baron Klodt began work on this second pair of sculptures, similar to those in the offered lot, late in 1848 when he was living with his family in the summer house at Pavlovsk. They are known as Young Man triumphing over a Wild Horse and Young Man falling to the Ground as he tries to mount a Horse. It is believed that two horses in the Pavlovsk Palace stables, Amalatbek and Serko were the inspiration for the horses in the groups. In 1850, the new bronzes were cast and mounted on the east side of the bridge.

There are some differences between the full-size sculptures in St. Petersburg and those in the offered lot. Most importantly the figures in the gilt bronze models are dressed in classical attire, whereas the figures of all four youths in the Anichkov bridge groups are nude. Klodt was at the forefront of a new Realism movement in Russia in which artists drifted from the old standard of antiquity and drew inspiration from life around them. However, perhaps for the sake of unity, the full-scale bronze figures on the East side of the bridge remained nude, in keeping with the earlier bronze groups.

Although variants of these models exist -- two also from the collection of Maria Feodorovna, now in the Russian Museum, St Petersburg, and illustrated in the catalogue of 1988 no. 494 and 498; and one in the Tretyakov Gallery no. 176 -- there are no known examples cast in gilt bronze in public collections. In addition bronze casts of The Horse Tamers are rarely found on the market, two examples have been sold in the last fifteen years, Sotheby's, The Russian Sale. 14^th-15^th December 1995, lot 775 and Bonham's, The Russian Sale, 1^st June 2006, lot 201. However the quality of the casting and fine chasing on these models are truly exceptional and it would be a hard task to find comparables of this quality in any public or private collections.

Finally, and perhaps most significantly, the offered lot was at one time in the collection of Empress Maria Fedorovna, wife to Tsar Alexander III and mother of Nicholas II. Anichkov Palace, overlooking the bridge on the Fontanka, was her official residence from 1866. One of the bronze groups, Young man falling to the ground as he tries to mount a horse, bears the label of Villa Hvidore in Denmark, illustrated fig. 2, where the Empress lived out the end of her life in exile.