remembering the end of eternity SM
19th century architectural mementos
of ancient ruined rome & roman-inspired places fall 2021
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G. B. Piranesi, Tomb of Nero, from Grotteschi (1748)
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remembering the end of eternity
remembering the end of eternity
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detail, Temples of Vespasian and Castor and Pollux, pair (XV) 4
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detail, Trajan’s Column (I)
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details, (l) Arc de Triomphe (XVIII) & (r) Cleopatra’s Needle, New York (XXII) 8
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Pantheon (XIII.i) 10
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Flaminian Obelisk (III.i) 12
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Details, Sarcophagi of Lucius Cornelius Scipio Barbatus (upper) X.i and (lower) X.ii 14
Contents
Who’s Your Nero Now? 1 I. Trajan’s Column in Gilded Bronze 2-5 II Trajan’s Column in Rosso Antico Marble 6-7 III. Roman Monuments in Rosso Antico Marble 8-17 IV. Capitoline Wolf 18-19 V. Temples of the Sybil 20-21 VI. Temples of Hercules Victor (Temples of Vesta) 22-23 VII. Bronze Models of the Temples of Saturn, Vespasian, and Castor and Pollux, Trajan’s Column 24-25 VIII. An Extraordinary Model of the Ruins of the Temple of Castor and Pollux 26-29 IX. Column of Phocas 30-31 X. Sarcophagi of Lucius Cornelius Scipio Barbatus 32-35 XI. Arches of Septimius Severus & Constantine 36-39 XII. Ruins of the Temple of Vespasian 40-41 XIII. Pantheon, Colosseum, and Temple of Hercules Victor 42-45 XIV. Ruins of the Temple of Vespasian and Temples of Hercules Victor 46-47 XV. Ruins of the Temples of Castor and Pollux and Vespasian 48-51 XVI. Baptistries, Pisa 52-53 XVII. Rouen Cathedral Clock 54-57 XVIII. Arc de Triomphe 58-59 XIX. Colonne de Juillet, Luxor Obelisk & Colonne Vendome 60-67 XX. Seven Souvenir Vendome Columns and Luxor Obelisks 68-69 XXI. Siegessaule Monument, Berlin 70-71 XXII. Cleopatra’s Needles, New York 74-77
G. B. Piranesi, Tomb of Nero, Le Antichita Romane (1756-57) 16
Who’s Your Nero Now? by Lucia Howard and David Weingarten Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, later Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, aka Nero, was Emperor when the Great Fire of Rome (Incendium Magnum Romae) erupted in 64CE. He is famously said to have fiddled while overseeing the incineration of two-thirds of the Eternal City. Certain killjoy historians point out that the forerunner of the fiddle, derived from a Byzantine instrument, appeared only in the 9th or 10th or 11th century. In fact, they say, Nero may have played a lyre or, possibly, sang. Neither of these responses to catastrophe, of course, suggest the signal indifference of fiddling. Nero played the lyre (or sang), while Rome burned? Neither satisfies. In the aftermath of the Great Fire, not quite eyewitness accounts held that Nero himself, with his henchmen, had set their torches to the wooden buildings which ignited the conflagration; the Emperor wanting to clear space for an enormous expansion of his already vast palace. To deflect blame, Nero blamed Rome’s Christians for the catastrophe and began a campaign of retribution unusually cruel, even for a man who’d arranged his mother’s murder, and personally seen to those of his first and second wives. Many believers were burned alive. One year ago in California, Piraneseum’s
home, three of the four largest fires in the State’s history blazed simultaneously. This year, as we write this, four of the twenty largest fires in California history are currently alight; including the Dixie Fire which, with not quite a million acres now burnt, promises to become the largest in State history. Records, say historians, are made to be broken. And as the flames advance, what of our leaders, our Neros? I doubt they are playing lyres (or singing), though it wouldn’t be far off to describe them as fiddling. Why? Our Neros don’t seek more space for their palaces, not in the usual sense. Instead, they aspire to build power, dominion. And should the conflagrations they light get out of hand, are others handy to blame; look South. Matters did not end well for Nero. Four years after the Great Fire, events escaped his control, he found himself blamed and suicide offered itself as the Emperor’s best option. (You know you’ve mis-stepped when this happens.) Among the various accounts of Nero’s last words is this, “Qualis artifex pereo!” – What an artist dies in me!” Most of our Neros operate at a distance from Art, though there have been notorious exceptions (what causes some strongmen to fancy themselves possessed of artistic sensibilities?). And yet, all share with the ancient Emperor his surfeit of self regard.
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I. Trajan’s Column in Gilded Bronze
33”h., c 1860, gilded bonze, Belgian black marble base See Pricing
An unexpected addition to the mid-19th century oeuvre of Parisian foundry Freres LeBlanc, this impressive, highly detailed model of Rome’s Trajan’s Column is turned out in gilded bronze. Souvenir models of the monument in bronze were produced by a small number of Roman foundries, including Hopfgarten and Jollage, especially in the first quarter of the 19th century. This memento, with the LeBlanc name cast to the interior and out of view, may have employed one of those earlier Roman replicas as a casting model. With Parisian mid-19th century architectural models – the Colonnes Vendome and Juillet, Luxor Obelisk, and Arc de Triomphe – no firm was more prolific. Interestingly, some details of this souvenir – the fence and Belgian marble base, for example – are characteristic of Parisian productions. In one way, this model follows the c. 1830 English practice of producing models of monuments for sale to local stay-at-homes –it no longer being necessary to bother with expensive trips to faraway places in order to secure terrific souvenirs of those evocative destinations.
(l) base, with bas-relief military trophies (r) offered model with smaller 19th century replica (
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(above) detail, spiral decoration of Column shaft (r) detail, surmounting figure of Trajan 4
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II. Trajan’s Column in Rosso Antico Marble 30-1/2”h., c 1830, rosso antico marble on stepped rosso and nero antico base, surmounted by a gilded bonze figure of the Emperor See Pricing. This and the following section focus on Roman souvenir architectural models, from the first third of the 19th century, carved in rosso antico marble – a blood red stone imported from Greece to the Eternal City roughly in the time of Augustus; or year zero. After serial sackings, across several centuries, the ground in Rome lay thick with the broken brightly-colored shards of Augustus’ ‘city of marble’. By the 17th century enterprising stonecutters – scarpellini – were refashioning these ruined remains into the range of decorative arts. By the later 18th and early 19th century, and with the onrush of tourism, these included the architectural mementos pictured in these pages. After 1840, or so, the supply of ruined rosso antico marble largely exhausted, scarpellini turned to other ancient, imported marbles, first nero antico, then giallo antico. By the later 19th century, even these stoned turned scarce, and stonecutters turned to contemporaneously quarried Italian alabaster. (l) detail, base (below) detail, bas-relief (r) offered model
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III. Roman Monuments in Rosso Antico Marble i. Flaminian Obelisk, 30-1/2”h., c 1830 ii. Trajan’s Column, 25”h., c 1830 iii. Trajan’s and Marcus Aurelius Columns (pair), 20-1/2”h., c 1830, iv. Lateran and Flaminian Obelisks (pair), 17-1/2”h., c.1840 v. Trajan’s Column, 13”h., c 1840, See Pricing
Late 18th and 19th century Roman architectural mementos are largely datable by the materials from which they are fashioned. The earliest models were carved in cork, later examples in ancient, imported, colored marbles, and eventually, in domestically produced alabaster. Thus, the group of reductions offered here were made near in time to each other. Perhaps the most impressive object here is an outsize reduction of the Flaminian Obelisk. Note the extensive Latin inscriptions to the base, as well as accurate hieroglyphics extending over the monument’s shaft. The smaller models, however, are no less effective souvenirs. It shouldn’t be forgotten that there are more ancient Egyptian obelisks in Rome than in Egypt. For the Emperors and, later, Popes who saw to the import and, later, positioning of these monoliths, those antique obelisks acted, like those pictured here, as souvenirs, albeit at a larger scale.
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i. detail vi. (l) detail (III.i), Flaminian Obelisk (above, l and r) (III.iv), detail, Lateran and Flaminian Obelisks (above, center) (III.i) detail, Flaminian Obelisk
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(l) detail, Trajan’s Column (III.ii) (above) Trajan’s Column (III.ii)
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(above) detail,Trajan and Marcus Aurelius Columns, pair (III.iii) (r),Trajan and Marcus Aurelius Columns (III.iii.)
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(above, l and r) detail (III.iii) - bases of Trajan and Marcus Aurelius Columns
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IX. Capitoline Wolf 6” h.; c 1850; patinated cast bronze on an ancient alabastro fiorito base See Pricing.
For Austrialia, it’s the kangaroo; for the Czech Republic, the double-tailed lion; for Russia, the double-headed eagle; etc. No place, though, is symbolized by an animal playing so central a role in its founding as Rome. Ask Romulus and Remus, saved from drowning in the Tiber by the she-wolf, who sustained the twins. This impressively-sized, extremely detailed model of the medieval, or is it Etruscan or Renaissance?, statue stands today in Palazzo dei Conservatore on the Campidoglio. This model’s figures rest upon a slab of ancient, highly-figured, alabastro fiorito – a stone prized in Renaissance inlay work called commesso.
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V. Temples of the Sibyl i. Temple of Sibyl, 5-1/2”h., 1860’s, patinated bronze, Belgian black marble base ii. Temple of Sibyl, 4-1/4”h., 1860’s, patinated bronze, giallo antico marble base See Pricing
Perhaps the relative scarcity of these mementos is explained by their location – overlooking the cascade at Tivoli – unlike the Temple of Hercules Victor which is towards Rome’s center. The Temple of the Sibyl was a favored subject of another type of souvenir maker – Romantic view painters of the 18th and early 19th centuries.
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VI. Temples of Hercules Victor (Temples of Vesta) i. 3-1/4”h., c 1890, patinated bronze, Belgian black marble base ii. 3-1/2”h., c 1890, green patinated bronze Belgian black marble base iii. 6-1/2”h., c 1860, patinated bronze, Giallo antico marble base See Pricing
Why are some souvenirs so successful? “Of all the monuments of ancient Rome, this (Tomb of Scipio) is the one more frequently produced in marble or bronze than any other, except perhaps the Temple of Vesta” records Rome and Its Ruins (1866). With each model, the center, shallow, conical section of the roof lifts away, perhaps for use as an inkwell.
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VII. Bronze Models of the Temples of Saturn, Vespasian, and Castor and Pollux, Trajan’s Column i.Trajan’s Column, 10-3/4” h., c 1880 patinated bronze, marble ii.Temple of Castor and Pollux, 5-3/8” h., c 1880 patinated bronze, alabaster base, (l) Temple of Saturn, 5-1/4”h., c 1880, patinated bronze, giallo antico marble base, (center) Temple of Vespasian, 5-3/8” h., c 1880 patinated bronze, alabaster base (r) (group of 3) See Pricing
If, in about 1880, you’d visited Rome, keen on returning home with some souvenirs, but constrained budget-wise, you might have entered the likely small shop, located on a tourist thoroughfare, offering these mementos. Found together, as a group of miniatures, we imagine they’ve not parted company over the course of the last 140 years.
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VIII. An Extraordinary Model of the Ruins of the Temple of Castor and Pollux
29” h., c 1860, giallo antico marble, rosso antico bresciatto marble base
See Pricing
Book IV of Palladio’s 1570 Quattro Libri contains a precise (and sumptuous) woodcut picturing the formal essentials of a type of Corinthian temple named in honor of Castor and Pollux, twin halfbrothers whose mother was Leda and whose fathers were both mortal (Tyndareus) and divine (Zeus). A hundred years later, architectural draftsman Antoine Desgodetz published Les Edifices Antiques de Rome, including a not quite photographic view of Rome’s temple to the twins. Accompanying this was the Frenchman’s derisive litany of Palladio’s errors. With this extraordinarily highly realized, minutely-carved, very closely-observed model of the Forum’s ruins of the Temple of Castor and Pollux, we imagine Monsieur Desgodetz might’ve been tres heureux. Comparing his engraving and this reduction, are the fewest differences. In places, the model surpasses the engraving!
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(above) Antoine Desgodetz, Des Trois Colonnes de Campo Vaccino a Rome, from Les édifices antiques de Rome: dessinés et mesurés très exactement (1682)
Extraordinarily detailed
d carving at the Corinthian column capitals, architrave, frieze and cornice.
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IX. Column of Phocas 29”h., c 1880, giallo antico marble, nero antico marble, bronze mount See Pricing.
The last monument built in the Roman Forum celebrated not a Roman, but a Byzantine emperor – Flavius Phocas, who reigned from 602 to 610. This was a catch-as-catch-can landmark – the column salvaged from another building, built atop the foundation of a previous monument, the dedicatory inscription on the base written over an earlier text. Even the now absent figure atop the Column may have been re-purposed. So why was this monument so often the subject of architectural mementos? Part of the answer may be with that inscription, about which there was a now difficult to understand excitement when it was rediscovered in the early 19th century.
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X. Sarcophagi of Lucius Cornelius Scipio Barbatus i. 11-1/2”h., c 1850, Statuary (Greek?) marble (Unengraved: the largest model of the sarcophagus we’ve yet encountered) ii. 8”h., c 1850, Africano marble iii. 7-1/2”h., c 1850, Peperino (the stone identical to that used in the ancient sarcophagus) iv. 4-1/4”h., c 1840, Giallo antico marble, inkwell lacking lid v. 3”h., c 1850, Giallo antico marble
Sometimes/more often than not/almost always, enduring fame relies as much on felicitous timing as momentous deeds. In 298 BCE, Lucius Cornelius Scipio Barbatus, a Roman Consul, led his army to a great victory over the Etruscans at the Battle of Volterra. Twenty-eight years later, he was dead, entombed in a particularly handsome sarcophagus, placed in the family vault along the Appian Way, and forgotten.
See Pricing
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Until, 2000 years later, it was rediscovered just in time to act on the imaginations of ever-increasing throngs of Roman tourists, many of whom returned home with models of Lucius’ sarcophagus. Why were these such a hit? They satisfy a range of curiosities- morbid and military, historical and hubristic, - over empire lost and rediscovered, the past and the future; setting us in a Rome-antic frame of mind. Roman Nights; Or, the Tomb of the Scipios,
by Alessandro Verri, a not very important Italian author (perhaps his time awaits), a c. 1800 nocturnal fantasia, begins with a chapter subtitled “The spectres are led from the tomb of Scipio to the Palatine Hill”. Not long afterwards - ”they cried out with one accord. Alas! How idle the hope of immortal fame! In thy native land, by thee so ennobled, O Scipio! So gone is thy glory, that thy heedless descendants deliberately trample over the fragments of thy tomb”.
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XI. Arches of Septimius Severus & Constantine
i. Arch of Septimius Severus, 3-5/8”h., c 1870’s, Volterran alabaster ii. Arch of Constantine, 3-1/2”h., c 1880’s, tinted Volterran alabaster See Pricing
In the late 19th century, as production of Roman architectural mementos increasingly shifted to models carved in Italian alabaster from Volterra, south of Florence, the subjects of these souvenirs changed as well. Before then, few scarpellini undertook marble models of Rome’s triumphal arches. Alabaster, though, much less expensive than marble and considerably softer and easier to work, encouraged models like those offered here. Unsurprisingly, reductions of the Arch of Constantine occur more frequently than those of other of the city’s arches. Our Arch of Constantine is carved from unusually translucent Volterran alabaster. Both this and the model of the Arch of Septimius Severus were fashioned before Volterran quarries only offered the bright white, granular alabaster seen in objects from c. 1890 well into the 20th century.
Arch of Constantine, Backlit
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Arch of Septimius Severus
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Arch of Septimius Severus
Arch of Constantine
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XII. Ruins of the Temple of Vespasian, 28-1/2”h., 1870s, tinted alabaster See Pricing Famed Swiss Art historian, Heinrich Wolfflin (1864-1945) is credited by some with developing the side-by-side projections characterizing generations of academic lectures. “Wolfflin’s method of comparing and contrasting pictures has come to be seen as a natural and commonsensical way to conduct Art history”, wrote one follower recently. Without commenting on common sense or the idea that Art history, like a passenger train, requires a conductor, let’s indulge a Wolfflinian comparison between this 1870’s alabaster model and that 1860’s giallo antico marble model of the Temple of Castor and Pollux seen earlier in this catalog (VIII). While both are of similar size and nearly identical purpose, the exquisitely fine work exhibited with that slightly earlier reduction contrasts with the blocky outline of the present object. Both are large, effective mementos. Still one is surpassing, the other workaday. Another German-speaking man with ties to the Art business, largely contemporary with Wolfflin, architect Mies van der Rohe, may have remarked that “God is in the details”. If so, we know which of these two temples they inhabited.
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XIII. Pantheon, Colosseum, and Temple of Hercules Victor i. Pantheon, 3-1/2”h., c 1870’s, ; tinted Volterran alabaster ii. Colosseum, 4”h., c 1870’s, ; colorful Volteran alabaster iii. Temple of Hercules Victor, 3-1/2”h., c 1870’s,Volterran alabaster See Pricing
While we think of ancient Roman monuments as immutable, many have changed, some not so long ago. Occasionally, these differences help us date their souvenirs. In the 17th century, a pair of bell towers was added to the front of the Pantheon. Unloved, they came to be known as the “asses ears”, their design attributed to Bernini. (In fact, their architect was Carlo Maderno.) In 1883, or 1892, or the 1870s, depending upon which history we believe, they were removed.
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This carefully rendered, souvenir likeness of the Pantheon is without bell towers, and our first instinct would be to date it after 1883, or after 1892, or after the 1870’s, depending upon which history we believe. However, this model, owing to its materials – color-tinted alabaster from Volterra – almost certainly dates to the 1870’s. We’ve not seen any 19th century stone model of the building including the twin towers (there are examples in bronze); perhaps they proved difficult to carve.
Bernini did play a role with the Pantheon, though, directing the removal of ancient bronze coffering from the underside of the porch for his baldacchino at St. Peter’s. About this vandalism, Bernini apologists demur. Rome’s greatest baroque designer also employed material from the Colosseum, a building operated by the Papacy as a quarry (for a thousand years!), The immense structure we see today is barely one- third its original size. Where did Bernini obtain the travertine for his colonnade at St. Peter’s? Don’t ask.
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detail of roof of the Temple of Hercules Victor
Colosseum
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XIV. Ruins of the Temple XIV. temple of vespasian and temples of hercules victor i. Temple of Vespasian, 4-1/2”h., c. 1880, tinted alabaster ii. Temple of Hercules Victor, 3”h., c. 1880, alabaster iii.Temple of Hercules Victor, 2-3/4”h., c. 1880, tinted alabaster vi. Temple of Hercules Victor, 2-3/4”h., c. 1890, alabaster See Pricing.
Among the pleasures of hand wrought architectural mementos is that the identical monument may be rendered in so many different ways. Here, with these three models of the Temple of Hercules Victor, popularly called the Temple of Vesta, are buildings of differing sizes, propostions, number of columns, openings and materials. These simple souvenirs also illustrate our minds’agility; the slenderest architectural conceits – column, roofs, simple geometry conspiring to remind of the grandest places.
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XV. Ruins of the Temples of Castor and Pollux and Vespasian
13-1/2”(Temple of Castor and Pollux) and 11-1/2”h. (Temple of Vespasian), 1880’s, tinted and untinted Italian alabaster
See Pricing
Almost all of Rome’s souvenir architectural models were offered on their own – a replica of the Pantheon, perhaps, or the Colosseum. The two exceptions to this rule - mementos of Trajan’s Column were often paired with that of Marcus Aurelius; the Temple of Castor and Pollux offered alongside that of Vespasian. This pair, turned out in Italian alabaster, tinted to resemble marble, is modeled on nearly identical groups produced beginning c 1830, and carved from ancient marbles, including rosso antico and giallo antico.
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detail, column capitals and entablatures
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XVI. Baptistries, Pisa i. 5-1/2”h.,1880’s, carved alabaster ii.10-1/2”h., 1870’s, carved alabaster, paint over gilded paint base iii. 12”h., 1890’s, carved alabaster with glass dome See Pricing
Neither Roman, nor a ruin, the material of these Pisan architectural memento – alabaster quarried in nearby Volterra – was in use with models in Rome, Florence, Pisa, and elsewhere by the third quarter of the 19th century. When we think of Italian alabaster, what may come to mind is the soft, granular, bright white stone from which souvenir knick-knacks were crudely carved into the 20th century. In fact, the Volterran quarries, first set to use by the Etruscans twenty-five centuries ago, offered a wide range of colored alabasters. One mid-19th century catalog lists forty different types.
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These intricately carved models of Pisa’ 14th century Baptistry, are assembled from several varieties of alabaster –a highly translucent yellow veined stone; grey; and white. Often with alabaster pieces from this period, souvenir sellers sought the ric patina of ancient Roman marbles, though rendered in this far less costly material. Towards this, they devised an unusual finish, “An artificial polish is given by the application with a woolen cloth of a paste compounded of bone dust and common soap,” notes Stone Magazine (1895). ii.
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XVII. Rouen Cathedral Clock, Clock Case by Bavozet Freres, Paris 20-1/2”h., c 1835, fire-gilded bronze See Pricing. This remarkably-detailed fire-gilded bronze case represents the south façade of Rouen Cathedral, called the Portail de Calende, rather than the more familiar west front, which because of its proportions and asymmetries may have been thought an unsuitable model. This case was made in Paris by Bavozet Frères et Soeur, and is an exacting miniature. Hans Ottomeyer and Peter Proschel’s 1986 Vergoldete Bronzen pictures a Bavozet Frères’ gilt bronze clock case in the form of Rheims Cathedral, which it dates to 1835. The caption describes an 1837 issue of the Almanach du Commerce, which mentions the firm’s clock cases, in the forms of the cathedrals of Notre Dame de Paris , Rheims, and Rouen – the model offered here. A leading Paris maker, the firm began business by 1823 and cast these sorts of models until at least 1847. The fire gilding process, with which these models were finished, involved coating a finished bronze casting with an amalgam of mercury and gold, then applying a torch, which caused the mercury to vaporize, leaving behind a thin gilt layer. The airborne mercury, was terrifically toxic, sufficiently so that this method of gilding was banned in France in the 1830’s. Typically, Bavozet cases were purchased by Parisian makers of clock movements, who then assembled and retailed them. 54
(above) detail at clock face (opposite) detail at portal
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XVIII. Arc de Triomphe 11”h.,1870’s Freres LeBlanc, dark patinated bronze, Belgian black marble base See Pricing
By the 1870’s, the Parisian trade in architectural souvenirs had come to be dominated by a single firm – Freres LeBlanc, which turned out high quality, cast bronze models of several of the city’s landmarks, including the Colonnes de Juillet and Vendome, Luxor Obelisk, and the present Arc de Triomphe (almost always made, as seen here, with a lid) . All are finished alike, with a very dark green patina. Several years ago, we were surprised to learn that the company also produced, in this period, impressive gilt bronze models of Rome’s Trajan’s Column. An example is offered at the beginning of this catalog (I.).
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XIX. Colonne de Juillet, Luxor Obelisk & Colonne Vendome
i.Colonne de Juillet, 26”h.,c 1865, Freres LeBlanc, patinated bronze, Belgian black marble base (pair with Colonne Vendome) ii.Luxor Obelisk, 22”h., c 1870’s, Freres LeBlanc? iii.Colonne Vendome, 26”h.,c 1865, Freres LeBlanc, patinated bronze, Belgian black marble base See Pricing
With Parisian souvenir architectural models – the Colonnes Juillet and Vendome, Luxor Obelisk, and Arc de Triomphe – by the mid 19th century, no firm was more prolific than the Parisian Freres LeBlanc. Models of these Parisian landmarks might be lavishly turned out, including this bronze pair of souvenir architectural models. An 1859 “Annuares et Almanaches du Commerce” lists the Freres LeBlanc’s wares including “coupes, statuettes, colonnes, arcs de triomphe, objets d’art”; while an illustrated advertisement in the 1878 “Annuaire du Commerce Diderot” pictures “Ancienne Maison LeBlanc Freres” bronze models. Models of the Colonne Vendome changed over the course of the 19th century, matching alterations to the monument. Completed in 1810, the Colonne originally featured Napoleon dressed as a Roman caesar, with toga, holding a globe in his left hand. By 1833, this figure had been replaced with one picturing the French Emperor in contemporary military uniform– tricorn hat, etc.. By 1863, the “Little Corporal” had fallen from favor, and was replaced by a version resembling the original figure, though holding a globe in his right hand, as does the figure atop the present model, thus confirming its date. 60
(above) detail., Colonne Vendome
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(above) Colonne de Juillet base (opposite) Colonne de Juillet capital detail
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(above) Colonne Vendome base (opposite) Colonne Vendome capital detail
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(above Luxor Obelisk base (opposite) Luxor Obelisk shaft details
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XX. Seven Souvenir Vendome Columns and Luxor Obelisks
i. Vendome Column 9-1/4” h. thermometer, c 1870’s, patinated bronze, Belgian black marble ii. Vendome Column, 11”h. double inkwell, c 1870’s patinated bronze, Belgian black marble, cut glass inkpots iii. Vendome Column, 13”h. thermometer, gilded bronze, Belgian black marble,(missing glass) iv. Vendome Column, - 14” h., thermometer, patinated bronze, Belgian black marble (missing glass)
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v. Luxor Obelisk, 11”h, c 1870, gilded bronze, Belgian black marble vi. Luxor Obelisk, thermometer, 8-3/4”h., c 1870’s, patinated bronze, marble vii. Luxor Obelisk, 9-1/2 h.” thermometer, brass, Belgian black marble See Pricing.
For the tourist on a budget in the mid to late 19th c., Freres LeBlanc and other Parisian foundries turned out more modest souvenirs, including those offered here. Often, these possessed some ostensible utility. Reductions were made as thermometers, and even as inkstands. The fanciest objects pictured are in gilded bronze – the Colonne Vendome and Luxor Obelisk.
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XXI. Siegessaule Monument, Berlin 28” h, c. 1880, cast and machined brass, patinated white metal, cast copper, and painted wood base See Pricing.
Designed in 1864 to commemorate a Prussian victory over Denmark. By 1873, when the monument was dedicated, the country celebrated the additional defeats of Austria and France. With these, it was decided to add the 27 foot tall, gilded bronze figure of Victoria at the column’s summit. The monument was cast by Berlin’s Gladenbeck Foundry, which also produced very highly realized models of other important German monuments. The changes didn’t stop there. Originally located in Berlin’s Konigsplatz, adjacent to the Reichstag, in 1939 Hitler directed his architect, Albert Speer, to draw plans for the relocation of the monument to the center of the Grossen Stein, a vast convergence of roads in Berlin’s Tiergarten District, in line with a new triumphal route, on axis with and running through
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the Brandenburg Gate. For emphasis, Der Fuhrer, insufficiently impressed with the monument’s monumentality, had Speer add 25 feet to the Column’s height, yielding the 220 foot tall landmark we see currently. Today, the Column shaft is made up of four distinct sections, including one added by Speer. The offered model features three segments, identifying it as dating from the period before the monument’s 1939 relocation, perhaps near the time of the Column’s dedication. The model possesses the high level of detail and finish characteristic of German foundries in this period. Note especially the remarkably precise, cast copper rendering of the monument’s basrelief at the model’s base. Many of these sorts of small, European cast metal decorative objects were lost to the depradations of World War. After these conflicts, especially in Germany, there was little enthusiasm for preserving the models of monuments whose meanings and memories had been taken over by humanity’s darkest impulses. What was one person’s victory column oh-so-quickly transforms into another’s memento mori.
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detail, cast/chased copper 72 bas-relief at base
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detail, hieroglyphics at bronze model
XXII. Cleopatra’s Needle, New York
i.Cleopatra’s Needle, 15-1/4”h., c. 1881, patinated bronze ii.Cleopatra’s Needle, 15-1/4”h., c. 1881, patinated lead, patinated bronze 0underside See Pricing
These very highly-realized models of the obelisk called Cleopatra’s Needle in New York’s Central Park were commissioned of Tiffany & Co, by Henry Gorringe, the Navy lieutenant commander engaged by tycoon William Vanderbilt (son of Commodore) in 1880, to retrieve the 200 ton monolith - a gift from Egyptian Khedive Ismael Pasha - from Alexandria. Gorringe overcame what now seem insurmountable obstacles in bringing the Needle to Gotham. These reductions, often engraved with the names of those receiving them, were given by Gorringe to the range of influential New Yorkers, including politicians, businessmen, artists and others. The lead model offered here is inscribed “W. H. Hunt”, almost certainly for William Henry Hunt, Secretary of the Navy under President Garfield. The bronze model is unengraved. While the bronze example is unusual, that in lead is very highly so. We’ve located just a single other example, in the collection of the New-York Historical Society.
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detail, base of lead model
(above) detail - underside of bronze and lead models (opposite) lead (l) and bronze (r) models
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detail, Trajan’s Columns, I and V(ii)
Pricing
I. Trajan’s Column in Gilded Bronze 16,500 II. Trajan’s Column in Ancient Rosso Antico Marble 16,500 III. Roman Monuments in Ancient Rosso Antico Marble i. Flaminian Obelisk, 30-1/2” 14,500 ii. Trajan’s Column, 25” 7,500 iii.Trajan’s and Marcus Aurelius Columns (pair), 20-1/2” 10,500 iv. Lateran and Flaminian Obelisks (pair)”, 17-1/2” 7,500 v. Trajan’s Column, 13” 1,750 IV. Capitoline Wolf 8,500 V. Temples of the Sibyl i. 5-1/2” 4,750 ii. 4-1/2” 3,500 VI. Temples of Hercules Victor i. 3-1/4” 950 ii.3-1/2” 950 iii.6-1/2” 7,500 VII. Bronze Models of the Temples of Saturn, Vespasian, Castor and Pollux, i. Trajan’s Column, 10-3/4” 2,500 ii. Group of 3 7,500 VIII. An Extraordinary Model of the Ruins of Castor and Pollux 17,500 IX. Column of Phocas 6,500 X. Sarcophagi of Lucius Cornelius Scipio Barbatus i. 11-1/2” 17,500 iv. 4-1/4” 3,500 ii. 8” 12,500 v. 3” 4,500 iii. 7-1/2” 11,500 XI. Arches of Septimius Severus and Constantine i. Septimius Severus 4,250 ii. Constantine 2500 XII. Ruins of the Temple of Vespasian 16,500 XIII. Group with Pantheon, Colosseum, and Temple of Hercules Victor i. Pantheon 3,500 ii. Colosseum 3,500 iii.Temple of Hercules Victor 2,500 XIV. Ruins of the Temple of Vespasian & Temples of Hercules Victor i. Temple of Vespasian 750 iii. Temple of Hercules Victor 750 ii. Temple of Hercules Victor 750 iv. Temple of Hercules Victor 750 XV. Ruins of the Temples of Castor & Pollux and Vespasian (pair) 7,500 XVI. Baptistries, Pisa i. 5-1/2” 500 ii.10-1/2” 7,500 iii.12” 7,500 XVII. Rouen Cathedral Clock 24,500 XVIII. Arc de Triomphe 7,500 XIX. Colonne de Juillet, Luxor Obelisk, and Colonne Vendome i.Colonne de Juillet 7,500 ii.Luxor Obelisk 4,750 iii. Colonne Vendome 7,500 XX . Seven Souvenir Vendome Columns and Luxor Obelisks i. 9-1/4” Colonne Vendome 500 v. 11” Luxor Obelisk 1,750 ii. 11” Colonne Vendome 950 vi. 8-3/4” Luxor Obelisk 500 iii.13” Colonne Vendome 1,750 vii. 9-1/2” Luxor Obelisk 500 vi.14” Colonne Vendome 950 XXL. Siegessaule Monument 17,500 XXII. Cleopatra’s Needles, New York i. bronze 16,500 ii.lead 16,500 For further information, please be in touch - lucia@piraneseum.com, tel. 510 332 3218. Visit piraneseum.com. Subject to prior sale. Exclusive of sales and all other taxes, 79 as applicable, shipping, and insurance. For recommended shippers, please inquire.
G. B. Piranesi, Skeletons, from Grotteschi (1748)
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