Reinhold Begas
A Carrara marble figure of Phryne
Carved in the round and partially freestanding. Signed "Reinhold Begas" to the back of the plinth. Following his apprenticeship under Ludwig Wilhelm Wichmann, he became an employee and pupil of Christian Daniel Rauch at the Berlin Academy from 1846-1851. After achieving his first success in Berlin, he then travelled to Rome and remained there from 1856-1858. Apart from a few periods in Weimar, Rome, and Paris, Begas was mainly active in Berlin from 1870 until his death in 1911. The present large and finely carved marble sculpture is traditionally thought to be a depiction of the Greek Hetaira Phryne, who was known for outstanding beauty. The catalogue of Begas' estate sale from 1912 (op. cit.) describes this piece as a late work. It appears to have remained in the artist's possession since it was made. The work was apparently based on a small plaster statuette made by the artist in 1864 that was reproduced as a small bronze cast in around 1885.
Two very minimal dents to the plinth, otherwise in pristine condition. H 88 cm.
Provenance
Estate of Reinhold Begas. - His sale, Gebrüder Heilbron, Berlin 26.11.1912, lot 81. - Purchased 24.03.1994 from Auktionshaus Ellekilde (Copenhagen), subsequently in a Berlin private collection.
Literature
Auction catalogue Gebrüder Heilbron: Künstlerischer Nachlass Reinhold Begas. Gemälde und Bildwerke, Berlin 26.11.1912, p. 19, lot 81, pl. 11. - Exhib. cat.: Begas. Monumente für das Kaiserreich. Mit einem Werkverzeichnis von Jutta von Simson, ed. by Esther Sophia Sünderhauf, Berlin 2010, p. 195 - 196, WV 38 c (with the remark "whereabouts unknown")