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Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Europe 1600-1815, Room 6, The Lisa and Bernard Selz Gallery

Orpheus and Eurydice

Statuette
1716 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

The subject is taken from Ovid's Metamorphoses. Orpheus's wife Eurydice, bitten by a snake, descends into the underworld. Orpheus descends to bring her back to life and is told he must go ahead and not look back at her; he cannot resist turning round and so loses her for ever. Here the two semi-nude figures are shown with the snake at their feet. Eurydice rests her right foot on Orpheus's left thigh and embraces him with her right arm. She stands on a rocky mound with a tree stump slightly above him, and he gazes up at her. A frog is visible on the rocky base. A hole drilled into the tree stump may have been used to affix another animal, or perhaps an extra branch. Other holes are to be seen drilled into the foliage. The group is signed underneath the base with the inscription 'LEON BAUR/1716'. The figure of Eurydice in particular is reminiscent of the female nudes by Giambologna (1529-1608), such as his bronze versions of the Woman Bathing, a composition which probably dates from the 1580s. The entwined figures recall perhaps even more forcefully the bronze figure groups by Giambologna's assistant and follower, Adriaen de Vries (1556-1626), such as his Hercules, Nessus and Deianara of 1603-8.

Baur (1681-1760) practised as both a sculptor and goldsmith. He trained in Augsburg under the sculptor Joseph Höschler (Heschler) from 1695-9, and then travelled, probably spending several years in Berlin, where he may have been influenced by the work of the sculptor and wax modeller Raimund Faltz, before returning to Augsburg, where he was working as a sculptor by 1708. He carved stone sculpture, and also produced designs for silver and furniture, as well as executing small-scale reliefs in wood, based on engraved sources.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleOrpheus and Eurydice (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Brief description
Figure group, ivory, Orpheus and Eurydice, by Johann Leonhard Baur, Germany (Augsburg), signed and dated 1716
Physical description
The subject is taken from Ovid's Metamorphoses. Orpheus's wife Eurydice, bitten by a snake, descends into the underworld. Orpheus descends to bring her back to life and is told he must go ahead and not look back at her; he cannot resist turning round and so loses her for ever. Here the two semi-nude figures are shown with the snake at their feet. Eurydice rests her right foot on Orpheus's left thigh and embraces him with her right arm. She stands on a rocky mound with a tree stump slightly above him, and he gazes up at her. A frog is visible on the rocky base. A hole drilled into the tree stump may have been used to affix another animal, or perhaps an extra branch. Other holes are to be seen drilled into the foliage. Signed.
Dimensions
  • Height: 24.5cm
Marks and inscriptions
'LEON BAUR/1716' inscribed under the base. In 1968 a second inscription was spotted by Charles Avery, Deputy Keeper of Architecture and Sculpture, on the back of the rocky base reading 'J. [or 'I.'] Leo:', a faint and incomplete signature for his full name (underneath)
Gallery label
ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE German (Augsburg); signed and dated 1716 Ivory By Johann Leonhard Baur (1681-1760) Purchased under the bequest of Capt. H. B. Murray (1993 - 2011)
Credit line
Purchased under the bequest of Capt. H. B. Murray
Object history
Bought by the Museum for £68 5s. in 1926, using funds from the bequest of Captain H.B. Murray. Christie's London, 8 July, 1926, lot 65 (Bateman-Hanbury Heirlooms, removed from Shobdon Court, Herefordshire, sold by direction of the Rt. Hon. Lord Bateman), there catalogued as 'Italian, early seventeenth century'.
Subjects depicted
Literary referenceOrpheus and Eurydice
Summary
The subject is taken from Ovid's Metamorphoses. Orpheus's wife Eurydice, bitten by a snake, descends into the underworld. Orpheus descends to bring her back to life and is told he must go ahead and not look back at her; he cannot resist turning round and so loses her for ever. Here the two semi-nude figures are shown with the snake at their feet. Eurydice rests her right foot on Orpheus's left thigh and embraces him with her right arm. She stands on a rocky mound with a tree stump slightly above him, and he gazes up at her. A frog is visible on the rocky base. A hole drilled into the tree stump may have been used to affix another animal, or perhaps an extra branch. Other holes are to be seen drilled into the foliage. The group is signed underneath the base with the inscription 'LEON BAUR/1716'. The figure of Eurydice in particular is reminiscent of the female nudes by Giambologna (1529-1608), such as his bronze versions of the Woman Bathing, a composition which probably dates from the 1580s. The entwined figures recall perhaps even more forcefully the bronze figure groups by Giambologna's assistant and follower, Adriaen de Vries (1556-1626), such as his Hercules, Nessus and Deianara of 1603-8.

Baur (1681-1760) practised as both a sculptor and goldsmith. He trained in Augsburg under the sculptor Joseph Höschler (Heschler) from 1695-9, and then travelled, probably spending several years in Berlin, where he may have been influenced by the work of the sculptor and wax modeller Raimund Faltz, before returning to Augsburg, where he was working as a sculptor by 1708. He carved stone sculpture, and also produced designs for silver and furniture, as well as executing small-scale reliefs in wood, based on engraved sources.
Bibliographic references
  • Longhurst, Margaret H. Catalogue of Carvings in Ivory. London: Published under the Authority of the Board of Education, 1927-1929, Part II, p. 96
  • Victoria and Albert Museum, Review of the Principal Acquisitions During the Year 1926. London, 1927, p. 7, pl. 4
  • Theuerkauff, C. Johann Leonhard Baur a German 'Kleinmeister' of the baroque. Apollo. April 1986, CXXIII. no. 290, pp. 274-279
  • Penny, N. Catalogue of European Sculpture in the Ashmolean Museum. II. Oxford, 1992, p. 9
  • Trusted, Marjorie, Baroque & Later Ivories, Victoria & Albert Museum, London, 2013, cat. no 60
Collection
Accession number
A.49-1926

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Record createdNovember 8, 2002
Record URL
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