A Very Fine 20th Century Marble Bust of a Woman

$7,050

c.1980’s, Spain

A very fine hand carved white Macael and green Serpentine marble bust of a maiden at actual size resting on a black marble socle.

Beautifully carved face with lovely features and long hair.

Artist unknown.

Very Heavy approx 40kg.

MEASUREMENTS

H 64cm x W 46cm D 24cm

Condition

Sold As Is. Wear consistent with age and use. Some damage to the back underside of socle. Carving is superior quality. Very Heavy approx 40kg.

Historical Notes

Classical sculptures weren’t originally white, Greeks and Romans often painted their marble sculptures to be wildly coloured — polychromatic, however by the time they were unearthed, the colour was gone — stripped by age, exposure and burial.

This absence of colour was then propagated by artists of the Renaissance, a period driven by a “return” to classicism as they believed that Whiteness, or more correctly, the absence of colour, came to be equated with sublime beauty.

PROVENANCE

Private Estate, Toorak, VIC