Object Description
385 RAPE OF THE SABINE WOMEN, ca. 1605-10
In a broad place, on the left of which stands a colonnade and a triumphal arch, the Roman warriors can be seen abducting the Sabine women. The Romans are in armor or nude or clad only in a cape and a helmet. In the right background, several riders with flags, lances and a standard; on the architecture at left, banners.
Bronze, reworked aftercast, dark patina, dia. 143 mm.
This relief exists as a plaquette with two different border ornaments and as the bottom of a silver vessel, this last in the Louvre, Paris. A drawing in the Uffizi, Florence, attributed to Hans Rottenhammer, can be considered the prototype (Ingrid Jost, "Drei unerkannte Rottenhammerzeichnungen in den Uffizien," Orbis Artium, Utrechtse Kunsthistorische Studien VII; Album Discipolorum Prof. J. G. Gelder, 1963, p. 74 ff., fig. 5). The creation of the relief in the studio of Hans Jakob Bayr is possible.
Other specimens: (lead) Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum; (bronze) Opava (Czechoslovakia), Museum; Santa Barbara, University Art Gallery, Morgenroth Collection; Art Market.
Bibl.: Braun, no. 150, pl. 43; Morgenroth, no. 424; I. Weber, "Rottenhammer-Entwurf fuer ein Goldschmiederelief," Pantheon 27, 4 (1969), p. 328 ff.; Weber, no. 781. Auction catalogs: Rosenheim, no. 792, pl. 40; Molthein, no. 527; Muenzhandlung Basel, Basel, Catalog 2, 8 October 1934, no. 549, pl. 19.
