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Seated Female Figure
Italian (possibly Rome)
Renaissance
16th century
Object Place: Europe, Venice or Padua, Italy
Medium/Technique
Metal; bronze
Dimensions
Overall (including base): 14.6 x 13.3 x 9.5 cm (5 3/4 x 5 1/4 x 3 3/4 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Leopold Blumka, in memory of Dr. Georg Swarzenski
Accession Number58.101
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsSculpture
DescriptionSeated female figure in classical drapery. Bronze, hollow. Feet crossed, legs stretched slightly sidewise, right hand grips wood pedestal, rectangular with concave sides, left hand at breast.
ProvenanceBy 1908, John Postle Heseltine (b. 1843 - d. 1929), London [see note 1]; 1922, possibly sold by Heseltine to Alfred Spero, London [see note 2]. By 1936, Bruno Kern (b. 1885 - d. 1942), Vienna and Prague [see note 3]; probably by inheritance to his stepson, Adalbert Wodianer (b. 1912/1913 - d. 1999) and sold to Leopold Blumka (dealer), New York [see note 4]; 1958, gift of Leopold Blumka to the MFA. (Accession Date: February 13, 1958)
NOTES:
[1] See Wilhelm von Bode, Italian Bronze Statuettes of the Renaissance, ed. and revised by James David Draper (New York: M. A. S. De Reinis, 1980; originally published 1908), p. 100, no. CXXXVI/1.
[2] In 1922, Heseltine sold many of his Italian Renaissance bronzes to Alfred Spero. See W. G. C[onstable], "The Heseltine Collection of Bronzes and Majolica," Burlington Magazine 41, no. 235 (November, 1922), p. 251 and Mrs. Gordon-Stables, "A Famous Array of Bronzes," International Studio 66, no. 310 (March 1923), pp. 492-495. It is not known whether this sculpture was among the bronzes sold.
[3] Lent to "III. Ausstellung: Kleinkunst der italienischen Frührenaissance" (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, June-July, 1936), cat. no. 47.
[4] Bruno Kern of Vienna and Prague was a Holocaust victim who appointed his stepson as his heir. When the MFA acquired this bronze, it was said to have belonged to Kern. Kern's stepson inherited other works of art from his collection, which he dispersed on the American market in the 1950s.
NOTES:
[1] See Wilhelm von Bode, Italian Bronze Statuettes of the Renaissance, ed. and revised by James David Draper (New York: M. A. S. De Reinis, 1980; originally published 1908), p. 100, no. CXXXVI/1.
[2] In 1922, Heseltine sold many of his Italian Renaissance bronzes to Alfred Spero. See W. G. C[onstable], "The Heseltine Collection of Bronzes and Majolica," Burlington Magazine 41, no. 235 (November, 1922), p. 251 and Mrs. Gordon-Stables, "A Famous Array of Bronzes," International Studio 66, no. 310 (March 1923), pp. 492-495. It is not known whether this sculpture was among the bronzes sold.
[3] Lent to "III. Ausstellung: Kleinkunst der italienischen Frührenaissance" (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, June-July, 1936), cat. no. 47.
[4] Bruno Kern of Vienna and Prague was a Holocaust victim who appointed his stepson as his heir. When the MFA acquired this bronze, it was said to have belonged to Kern. Kern's stepson inherited other works of art from his collection, which he dispersed on the American market in the 1950s.