Lot 34: CIRCLE OF HUBERT GERHARD (1540-1620)SOUTH GERMAN, EARLY 17TH CENTURY

PROPERTY FROM THE GUSTAV RAU COLLECTION SOLD TO BENEFIT THE GERMAN COMMITTEE FOR UNICEF ANGEL with an old label to the underside of the socle inscribed: 2.358 / E3 gilt bronze, on an ebonised wood socle Angel: 24.3cm., 9 5/8 in. socle: 14.5cm., 5¾in.

Zürich, Galerie Le point, Crédit Suisse, Engel., 1999-2000, no. 61

J. Schoch (ed.), Engel., exh. cat. Galerie Le Point, Crédit Suisse, Zurich, 1999, no. 61

This beautiful gilt bronze angel is close to the work of Hubert Gerhard and his workshop. The pose, with one arm raised and one arm lowered, the heavy, flowing, drapery, and the strap running across the abdomen, are reminiscent of the pair of kneeling angels by Gerhard from the Fugger Altar, dating to 1581-4, in the Victoria and Albert Museum (inv. nos. A.21-1964 and A.22-1964). The facial type and the frayed edges of the drapery compare particularly with Gerhard's Weihbrunnenengel of 1593-6 in the church of St. Michael, Munich (Diemer, op. cit., no. G 12 b). For a very similar pose, see Gerhard's terracotta angel, which is also in the church of St. Michael, Munich, and dates to 1584-8 (Diemer, op. cit., pl. 7). Hubert Gerhard was a highly influential sculptor. He ran a large workshop, training a number of star apprentices who went to to become renowned sculptors in their own right, notably Hans Krumper (1570-1634). Gerhard was the first of the three great sculptors who brought Giambologna's courtly Mannerist style to the North. A Dutchman by birth, he worked for the princely Habsburg courts and, later, for the Dukes of Bavaria. His first documented commission was the Christoph Fugger Altar of 1581, which commemorated a member of the powerful Augsburg banking family. RELATED LITERATURE M. Baxandall, 'A Masterpiece by Hubert Gerhard', Victoria and Albert Museum Bulletin, 1965, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 1-17; D. Diemer, Hubert Gerhard und Carlo di Cesare del Palagio. Bronzeplastiker der Spätrenaissance, Berlin, 2004, vol. II, pp. 191, 252-253, 272, 459, nos. G 1 b-c, C 5 b, figs. 68-69, 88, 275, pl. 7