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CASPAR GRAS (1585 - 1674), INNSBRUCK, CIRCA 1630-50 EMPEROR FERDINAND III ON HORSEBACK in elaborate armour seated on a curveting horse; on a canted rectangular variegated marble base 14 in. (35.5 cm) high; 15 in. (38 cm) long; 19 3/4 in. (50.2 cm) high, overall
The Royal House of Savoy.
The present statuette depicts the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III, scion of the dynastic House of Habsburg, sitting astride a curveting horse preparing to leap gracefully from its hind legs. The bronze is known in one other cast, which was in the Imperial Treasury in Vienna from at least 1750 and is now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, and which has been conclusively attributed to the great Austrian sculptor Caspar Gras. The present bronze belongs to a descendant of the Royal House of Savoy which had its origins in the 11th century and ruled the unified Kingdom of Italy from 1861 until 1946.
THE HABSBURG GROUP OF RIDERS
This bronze belongs to a series of equestrian statuettes that represent different members of the Habsburg family. Four of these are in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, including another example of Ferdinand III in his youth (inv. no. 6020), Ferdinand III at a later age (inv. no. 5989), Leopold I in his youth (inv. no. 6000) and Ferdinand II (previously unidentified, inv. no. 6025). A further two statuettes were previously in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, one of Archduke Ferdinand Carl, which remained in Vienna until 1933 and is now in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London (A.16-1960), and another of either Archduke Ferdinand Carl or his brother Archduke Sigismund Francis, which was formerly in the Kunsthistorisches Museum (inv. no. 5995) and was offered at Sotheby’s, London, 8 July 2010, lot 48 (withdrawn before the sale). Of these the equestrian statue of Ferdinand III (inv. no. 6020) can be traced the furthest back to an Imperial Treasury inventory of 1750. There is only one known gilt-bronze equestrian statuette, depicting Archduke Leopold Wilhelm, brother of Emperor Ferdinand III, which is a part of the Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen (inv. no. KMS5501), and can be traced back in the royal inventories to 1737. There are two unattached heads, one of Leopold I and the other either of Archduke Ferdinand Karl or Archduke Sigismund Francis, also in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, and another at Schloss Lichtwehr, Tyrol. Leithe-Jasper notes the existence of other examples related to the group, but with the horse in full gallop, rather than curveting; an example of this type, depicting either Leopold I or Archduke Sigismund Francis, was sold at Christie’s, New York, 13 April 2016, lot 45.
The present bronze was cast with the same technical ingenuity and methodology as the rest of the above group. The body of the horse was cast in one piece, including the hind legs and forelegs to below the carpus. The rest of the forelegs, the head and base of the neck and the tail were all cast separately. The rider’s body, saddle and saddlecloth form one piece; the head, arms below the shoulder, and large bow of the sash are all cast separately. For this entire group the horse was always cast from the same model. The heads are all inserted into the neck aperture and are thus easily interchangeable. In all probability the heads were executed last, when it was known who was to be portrayed (Leithe-Jasper, loc. cit.).
This process would have allowed the sculptor to produce a quantity of extremely high quality and adaptable bronzes, without the excess costs of building up the models and moulds from scratch. The present bronze is seemingly identical to another example of Ferdinand III in Vienna (inv. no. 6020), albeit without the baton, reins and stirrups. A hole to the back of the head of Ferdinand II in the present bronze indicates that he also was originally adorned with a laurel crown. Of all the groups in the series, these ar