Skip to main content
Bonhams
Search
Previous Lot
Next Lot
Angelo Pizzi (Italian, 1775-1819): A gilt bronze figure of a Roman orator image 1
Angelo Pizzi (Italian, 1775-1819): A gilt bronze figure of a Roman orator image 2
Angelo Pizzi (Italian, 1775-1819): A gilt bronze figure of a Roman orator image 3
Lot 15

Angelo Pizzi (Italian, 1775-1819): A gilt bronze figure of a Roman orator

Important Design
27 November 2019, 14:00 GMT
London, New Bond Street

£7,000 - £10,000

Own a similar item?

Submit your item online for a free auction estimate.

How to sell

Looking for a similar item?

Our Home and Interiors specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.

Find your local specialist

Ask about this lot

Angelo Pizzi (Italian, 1775-1819): A gilt bronze figure of a Roman orator

the figure clad in a heavily folded and draped robe, looking slightly to sinister, reading a scroll held in his left hand, his right hand extended in a typical oratorical gesture, the rear with engraved signature Angelo Pizzi, Milanese modello and with engraved inventory 1877.20-35., raised on a veined light brown marble moulded dwarf column base, 22cm high, 26.5cm overall

Footnotes

Angelo Pizzi (Milan 1775 - Venice 1819) was an Italian sculptor active in the Neoclassical style. A pupil of sculptor Giuseppe Franchi (Italian, 1731 – 1806), he completed the statues of Saints Matthew and Simon for the Duomo of Milan. He taught at the academies of Carrara (between 1804-7) and Venice (between 1807-19) and sculpted a bronze statue of Napoleon which is situated in the courtyard of the Brera Academy in Milan. The statue depicts Napoleon as a nude Roman Emperor wearing a laurel wreath and carrying a spear, drapery thrown over his shoulder.

Additionally, there is a further bronze statue, also probably by Pizzi, of Napoleon, partially dressed as an Emperor, also holding a spear, which can be seen in the Palazzo Archinto, Milan. It is likely that this example is a reduction and variation of the statue of Napoleon in the Brera Academy.

It has been suggested that the current lot depicts Napoleon Bonaparte fully clothed in the classical robes of an emperor such as Augustus, his hair cropped in the revolutionary fashion. The inventory number on the present lot, beginning 1877 - most likely the accession date, confirms that the figure was most likely part of a museum collection, although there is a possibility it relates to a group or pantheon of figures.

Additional information

Bid now on these items

A pair of late 19th century French gilt bronze mounted pink griotte marble garniture urns In the Louis XVI style
A large late Victorian oak and brass dinner gongLate 19th / early 20th century, acquired by the Set Decorating Department for the third film, Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale
Dame Maggie Smith (as the Dowager Countess): a selection of character props used as set decoration for her desk
Jim Carter (as Mr Carson): a selection of character props used as set decoration in his study
Jim Carter (as Mr Carson): an oak hanging key cabinet together with a large collation of prop keysThe cabinet in the Victorian style, the keys 18th century and later
Dame Maggie Smith (as the Dowager Countess): a white metal mounted ebonised walking cane
The Downton Abbey Bell WallFirst seen in Season 1, in the Servant's Hall, made by the Art Department's model makers
A large Italian carved marble bust of PericlesAfter the Antique, probably late 18th/early 19th century
Two similar Derbyshire blue john fluorspar ovoid door stops Early 20th century
A large French mid-19th century gilt-bronze eight light chandelierIn the Louis XV style
A rare Regency treen Gothic gatehouse timepiece case
An Austrian cold-painted bronze of a French Bulldog, with another similarcirca 1900
An Austrian cold-painted bronze of a French Bulldog singed Carl Kauba, with two similarlate 19th early 20th century
After Emmanuel Frémiet (French, 1824-1910): Chiens Levriers
Jules-Bertrand Gelibert (French, 1834-1916): Druid
After Emmanuel Fremiet (1824-1910): A patinated cast iron seated bloodhound