Many people have asked me, “how can you tell the difference between a new and old (19th C or earlier) bronze sculpture”?   Moreover, I suspect many beg the question but hesitate to ask it for a variety of reasons.

 I remember not so long a when dealers and auction houses considered 19th century bronzes decorative items, to be used as doorstops, much like those little cast-iron Boston terriers on the shelves of local junk shops.  Good 19th-century European bronzes are much more than doorstops, or decorative pieces of sculpture. Once considered ornamentation they often found their home placed in a corner; I, however, ascertain that they are verily “fine art”, and valuations are beginning to reflect this.

 When I say “fine art”, what I am defining is the highest echelon on the art pyramid, simply regarded as the best. In years past, dealers and auction houses cataloged these artworks as decorative. I am here to aver the contrary and finally the rest of the market is beginning taking notice. 

 On average, it took 4-5 months to produce a 40-inch bronze sculpture and it involved no less than five or six artisans’ participation in the creation of the sculpture. (This of course depended upon the size of the foundry.) The process started with the original model. The foundry then reduced or increased the size of the original in a plaster form. Casings were fashioned around the arms legs, torso and other sections using a method known as “sand casting”. Rarely used at this time on the other hand, lost wax or “cire perdue”, was preferred because of the preponderant requirements such as materials rather than sand casting which was more laborious and therefore at this time less expensive. The molds were cast and then “chased” or chiseled, after which the bronze was “finished” and then patinated in either acid or lacquer.  

Bronze Sculpture, Hymenee by Charles-Adrien-Prosper d'Epinay

 When I inspect a bronze sculpture, I look for the following criteria:

1. Detail- Older bronzes have sharp internal detail as opposed to sharp external cuts.
2. Finishing- protruding edges are always smoothly rounded and never “scraped”.  
3. Separate castings- The arms, legs, extremities, attributes (i.e. Diana’s bow), are “pieced and pegged”, where the lines are precisely and often very difficult to identify.
4. Patina- patinas and colors were closely held trade secrets within the foundries. Creating a consistent and beautiful patina was extremely challenging due to variations in waters (chemicals) and the coloring agents such as barium for browns.  The Barbedienne foundry became known for their “Barbedienne brown”, which emulated the color of milk chocolate.

In addition to the aforementioned points, I would like to note that this entire process took much laborious effort on the part of many skilled craftsmen, and the finished product always distinguished itself from other eras and especially from those of late!

 Moreover, with 19^th-century examples, sculpture details are crisp but rounded. The incised cuts are “scratch patched or non-linear” and never wheel driven. And finally, the older patinations generally show areas of wear and most always exhibit a distinction in colour and depth. I always look for areas of wear on the sculpture where the piece would have been picked-up repeatedly resulting in patination losses. In addition, protruding elements often lose the original patina as well.

 Regards,

John