Lot 313 D

The large version of the “Vollblutfohlen” can be traced back to the small version of the eponymous sculpture, which was created one year before. In that work the young animal's pasterns appear even more delicate and fragile (cf. Berger/Ladwig 169).
With its long legs and stiff gait, the “Großes Vollblutfohlen” also seems very unsteady, as though it had only just seen the light of day.
Here Renée Sintenis has once more proved herself to be a gifted animal sculptor, able to observe what distinguishes and characterises every species and breed and to realise this in her art.
While Sintenis was already prominently represented by the gallerists Wolfgang Gurlitt and Alfred Flechtheim in the 1920s and had advanced to become a successful sculptor well-known even outside of Germany, times also became more difficult for her in the 1930s. In the course of the rationing of material, casting in bronze became increasingly difficult and was then forbidden from 1941. The foundry “Giesserei Noack” finally also had to completely close on account of bomb damage in 1944.
This bronze version of an animal sculpture in such a large format thus seems all the more remarkable today and, in turn, shows the significance that precisely this horse must have had for Sintenis.
A further cast of this large version of the “Vollblutfohlen” at the same height of 108 cm can be found in Berlin's Nationalgalerie; it was purchased as far back as 1957 with lottery funds from the “Klassenlotterie” (Inv. no. B 186).