A maenad putta and infant satyr
possibly Austrian School
Category
Art / Sculpture
Date
circa 1725 - circa 1775
Materials
Lead
Measurements
940 mm (Height)
Place of origin
Austria
Order this imageCollection
Anglesey Abbey, Cambridgeshire
NT 515138
Summary
Lead, a maenad putta and infant satyr, possibly Austrian School, mid-18th century. A lead maenad putta holding a tambourine clasped from below by an infant satyr. In a pair with NT 515137.
Full description
The character of the groups and physiognomies of the infants are reminiscent of German or Austrian garden sculpture; see, for example Johann Wolfgang von der Auwera's drawings of paired putti groups in the gardens of Schlosshof, Lower Austria, c. 1725-30, in the Martin von Wagner Museum, Würzburg (reproduced Husslein-Arco and von Plessen 2010, p. 247, nos. V.24-5), which Auwera went on to imitate in sculpture of his own. See also a putto-group in a design for the Würzburg Residenz (reproduced Sedlmaier and Pfister 1923, fig. 97). There was a vigorous tradition in Austria of sculpture in lead; Georg Raphael Donner (1693-1741) and Franz Xaver Messerschmidt (1736-83) are internationally known practitioners, but there were many others, such as Johann Martin Fischer (1740-1820), Johann Georg Dorfmeister (1736-86), and Johann Baptist Hagenauer (1732-1810). The present pair of groups, if they are Austrian, are at a lower level of sophistication, and, like all lead sculpture, have suffered distortion with the passage of time. Text adapted from a catalogue entry by Alastair Laing, former Curator of Pictures and Sculpture, National Trust.
Provenance
Bequeathed to the National Trust by Huttleston Rogers Broughton, 1st Lord Fairhaven (1896-1966) with the house and the rest of the contents.
Credit line
Anglesey Abbey, The Fairhaven Collection (National Trust)
Makers and roles
possibly Austrian School, sculptor previously catalogued as attributed to Ferdinand Dietz (1708 - 1777), sculptor
References
Husslein-Arco and von Plessen 2010: Agnes Husslein-Arco and Marie-Louise von Plessen, Prince-Eugene. General-Philosopher and Art Lover, exh. cat. venue: Belvedere, Vienna 2010, p. 247, nos. V.24-25. Sedlmaier and Pfister 1923: Richard Sedlmaier and Rudolf Pfister, Die fürstbischöfliche Residenz zu Würzburg, Munich 1923, fig. 97. Christie, Manson & Woods 1971: The National Trust, Anglesey Abbey, Cambridge. Inventory: Furniture, Textiles, Porcelain, Bronzes, Sculpture and Garden Ornaments’, 1971, p. 163.