A special selling exhibition, Important European Bronzes, will be held by leading international sculpture dealers, Tomasso Brothers Fine Art, from 21st to 30th January 2016 at the New York galleries of Carlton Hobbs LLC, New York, timed to coincide with the Old Master sales and Master Drawings Week.

Taking centre stage among a distinguished collection of works will be the gallery’s newly-discovered bronze relief masterpiece by Antonio di Pietro Averlino, called Filarete (c.1400–c.1469), which depicts Julius Caesar on horseback leading his defeated foe, King Juba, in a triumphal procession.  The work dates from circa 1433, around the time Filarete began designing the monumental bronze doors of St. Peter’s Basilica, Rome and is considered to have had a crucial influence over the entire genre of all’antica bronze relief work that emerged during the second half of the 15th century.  Autograph works by Filarete are astonishingly rare and along with his tutor, Lorenzo Ghiberti (1378–1455), he is considered one of the earliest masters of bronze relief sculpture.

Another recently re-attributed, fully autograph work is Giambologna’s imperious ‘Hohenzollern Mars’ dating from circa 1580 and formerly in the collection of the Princes von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, Germany.  The bronze figure represents a rare, early cast of the high-mannerist master’s model of ‘Mars’ that so influenced later generations of artists.  Giambologna (1529–1608) was revered in his own lifetime as the greatest sculptor of his age, after an illustrious career making works for the Medici Grand Dukes of Florence and the most powerful European courts. 

Dino and Raffaello Tomasso are recognised internationally for specialising in important European sculpture from the early Renaissance to the Neo-classical periods.  They have a particular expertise in European Renaissance and Baroque bronzes, and they have chosen works from these periods as the focus of the exhibition.

Commenting, gallery Director Dino Tomasso says: “We will present serious collectors and connoisseurs with an outstanding opportunity to view and acquire some of the best European bronze sculpture available today.”

Raffaello Tomasso, Director, adds: “This follows up a successful New York event we staged at Carlton Hobbs a year ago.  Our forthcoming show, and the works we have selected to bring, is in part a response to the well-received exhibitions of the Quentin and Hill bronzes, held at the Frick Collection in recent years.”

 A hard-back catalogue, Scultura IV, is being published to accompany the exhibition.

Important European Bronzes from Tomasso Brothers Fine Art

21-30 January 2016

At Carlton Hobbs LLC

60 East 93rd Street

New York, NY

www.tomassobrothers.co.uk