Lot 209: Raimondo Trentanove (1792-1832), dated 1824

Raimondo Trentanove (1792-1832), dated 1824
George Washington
inscribed R.Trentanove.Fece.in Roma. 1824
white marble
29½ in. high

Stony Brook, New York, The Museums of Stony Brook, George Washington, American Symbol, February 1999 to February 2000.

Lenox Library, A Guide to the Paintings and Sculptures Exhibited to the Public (New York, 1877), p. 22.
New York Public Library, Catalogue of Paintings in the Lenox Gallery (New York, 1897), p. 26.
R.W. Hill and L. Stark, "Washingtoniana in the New York Public Library," Bulletin of the New York Public Library (February 1961), p. 77.

James Lenox, New York, 1824
New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations
Sotheby's New York, November 30, 2005, lot 12

VARIOUS PROPERTIES

This portrait bust of George Washington, portrayed in the style of a Roman statesman, was modeled after a 1795 example by the preeminent neo-classical sculptor Guiseppe Ceracchi (1751-1802), now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ceracchi's bust was modeled from life during his trip to the United States in late 1791 to early 1792 (Barbara J. Mitnick, et al., George Washington: American Symbol (New York, 1999), p. 42). As noted in an early catalogue, this bust was commisioned in 1824 by James Lenox, who also commissioned a bust of Napoleon from Trentanove in 1827 (New York Public Library, Catalogue of Paintings in the Lenox Gallery (New York, 1897), p. 26). Trained by Antonio Canova (1757-1822) in Rome, Trentanove was widely known throughout the United States and completed many works for the American market (Wayne Craven, Sculpture in America (New York 1968), p. 63).