Daniel Katz has been dealing in European sculpture since 1968 and is renowned for handling only the best. He blends the expertise of a connoisseur with the passion of a collector. He is proud to count the leading museums of the world among his clients, including The British Museum, The Rijksmuseum and The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The gallery operates from an 18th century townhouse in the heart of London’s Mayfair.
The Daniel Katz Gallery is delighted to participate at this year’s Masterpiece London art fair. Among the treasures exhibited by the gallery will be a group of 17th and 18th century terracotta sculptures, such as a terracotta Head of Ceres by Joseph-Charles Marin. This magnificent bust was presented at the Salon of 1795. Taking the form of a herm, it echoes the artist’s new Neo-classical aspirations, as he takes up an allegorical subject that has resonances with the iconography of the age of the Revolution. The young woman’s face has been idealised à l’antique but it is softened by her rich, flowing hair which is adorned with a crown of fruit and ears of corn. While Marin’s small busts and statuettes of nymphs are well known and dispersed amongst museums and private collections, this type of bust in the shape of a herm and of large dimensions is very rare.
We will also be showing a selection of Italian Renaissance and later bronzes. A highlight will be a striking reduction in bronze of the famous Antique Marcus Aurelius from the Piazza del Compidoglio by Rome’s foremost bronze founder of the 17th century, Orazio Albrizzi. Albrizzi collaborated with Bernini in Rome, as well as casting models after Antique and Renaissance sculptures on a large scale. Once in the collection of the Marchesi Spinola di Luigi in Genoa (for whom it may have been commissioned), there are no other known versions of this highly competent cast, signed and dated 1624; it demonstrates very finely detailed modelling and has a beautiful green patina which simulates ancient bronze.
Slightly earlier is a 15th century Florentine relief in stucco of the Madonna and Child in tender conversation. This Renaissance composition, showing an intimate psychological relationship, derives from Donatello’s famous relief known as the Pazzi Madonna, which is in marble and resides in the Staatliche Museen in Berlin. It was identified by the Renaissance art historian Giorgio Vasari as being executed for the Pazzi family in Florence circa 1420-30 and being much loved as a source of inspiration for many sculptors. There are two other known examples of this composition, namely another polychrome stucco version which is in the Museo San Marco, Florence, and a painted stone version which is in the Museo Horne, also Florence.
The gallery has expanded its interest and scope and in addition to fine sculpture will be showing a selection of 19th and early 20th century paintings by rare artists active in France, England, Germany and Scandinavia. Highlights include an exceptional painting by the Norwegian artist Peder Balke showing a view of Stockholm Harbour. Better known for his works on a smaller scale depicting natural phenomena such as wind and stormy seas, the present picture is on a massive scale and shows a beautifully calm and tranquil waterfront by moonlight. Here we see Balke’s characteristic quick and fluid brushstrokes depicting reflections in the water, illuminated under a serene but striking blue light.
From the 20th century the gallery will show a dynamic and stylish bronze figure of a Dancing Faun by Joseph Bernard, a piece which shows the artist’s great interest in and mastery of the dancing human form. Bernard was intensely occupied with the theme of dance and dancers in 1920’s Paris, and would have been much influenced by the Ballets Russes which was regularly performing there during these years. A larger version of our Dancing Faun is in the Musée d’Orsay, Paris.
For more information, please contact Tom Davies
Daniel Katz Ltd, 13 Old Bond Street, London, W1S 4SX
Tel: 020 7493 0688
email: tom@katz.co.uk
www.katz.co.uk