A 19th Century Carved and Polychrome Dutch Family
$8,750.00
A 19th century Dutch figural group of a young mother with two young children, dressed in traditional Dutch dress and wooden clogs, with golden hair emerging from beneath their caps. The image is one of intimacy and maternal love. Top of base signed "J. Bilbao".
It was made by the eminent Spanish sculptor Joaquín Bilbao y Martinez (Spanish, 1864-1934) in 1907. Bilbao won medals in several international exhibitions, most notably, he won the third-place medal in the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1900.
This particular sculpture competed against a Rodin’s sculpture of “Eve” in Liverpool in 1908. I’ve attached a screenshot of the reference but here is a transcript from a local newspaper in 1908:
“The most interesting pieces of sculpture are also Continental . . . By A. Rodin there is a bronze, “Eve,” and other notable items are: Henrí Wriggle’s “Athénienne,” a bust in marble and gilded bronze, and a group of Dutchwoman and children in marble polychrome, by J. Bilbao-y-Martínez.” (“Art in Liverpool” The Art Journal, Vol. 28. (London: 1908)
25 x 12 ¾ x 10 in.
