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Fountain group with three reclining female nudes
Italian or French
Renaiassance
16th century
Medium/Technique
Bronze
Dimensions
Legacy dimension: Width at widest point: 47" Height from base of marble to top of bowl: 28"
Credit Line
Sarah F. Gorham and Alice Goddard Fund
Accession Number41.562.1
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsSculpture
DescriptionBronze. Three reclining female nudes(naiads), one arm of each lifted and holding basin with voluted rim. Green marble base (41.562.2) probably of later date.
ProvenanceAbout 1900/1910, possibly sold by Durlacher, London, to Jacques Seligmann (dealer; b. 1858 - d. 1923), Paris [see note 1]; probably sold through Jacques Seligmann and Co., Paris and New York, to Clarence H. Mackay (b. 1874 - d. 1938), Roslyn, NY [see note 2]; 1939, Mackay estate consigned for sale to Jacques Seligmann and Co., New York; 1941, sold by Seligmann to the MFA for $7,000 [see note 2]. (Accession Date: June 5, 1941)
NOTES:
[1] Germain Seligman wrote to MFA curator Georg Swarzenski (July 23, 1941) that he believed the fountain had "gone through the hands of Durlacher's, London" and subsequently (October 29, 1941) that dealer George Durlacher "does believe that over thirty years ago [the fountain] was in his possession, that it was attributed by him to Jean Goujon, and thinks he purchased it in Paris." Archives of American Art, Jacques Seligmann and Co. Records, Clarence H. Mackay Collection, Box 236, Folder 9, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. [2] According to Royal Cortissoz, The Clarence H. Mackay Collection (New York, 1931), p. 18, the fountain was "formerly in the collection of Jacques Seligmann, Paris."
NOTES:
[1] Germain Seligman wrote to MFA curator Georg Swarzenski (July 23, 1941) that he believed the fountain had "gone through the hands of Durlacher's, London" and subsequently (October 29, 1941) that dealer George Durlacher "does believe that over thirty years ago [the fountain] was in his possession, that it was attributed by him to Jean Goujon, and thinks he purchased it in Paris." Archives of American Art, Jacques Seligmann and Co. Records, Clarence H. Mackay Collection, Box 236, Folder 9, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. [2] According to Royal Cortissoz, The Clarence H. Mackay Collection (New York, 1931), p. 18, the fountain was "formerly in the collection of Jacques Seligmann, Paris."