The Huntington

Giovanni Bologna (1529-1608),Nessus and Deianira, bronze, H. 16 3/8in (41.6cm).

The mythological episode of the centaur, Nessus, carrying off Deianira, the wife of Herakles, provided giovanni Bologna with a splendid opportunity to devise a composition with two forms in violent interaction. He made three versions (the two others are in the Louvre and the Grunes Gewolbe, Dresden). his followers continued to make countless repetitions of the popular subject.

Bartolomeo (1511-1592), attr.,Hercules, bronze, H. 14 5/8in (37.1cm).

Italo-Flemish(c.1600),Woman Touching Her Foot, bronze, H. 5in (12.7cm).

Louis Francois Roubiliac (c.1705-1762), Bacchanal, 1758, marble, H. 38in (96.5cm). Roubiliac, born and trained in France, is probably the most distinguished sculptor to spend the major portion of his career in England. He is known primarily as a portraitist, and is represented in that capacity in the Huntington collection by busts of Handel and Sir Peter Warren. The playful Bacchanal, which is signed and dated 1758, is unusual for Roubiliac, but is very much in the rococo mood of contemporary work by his French compatriots.

The Lpggia ar the entrance to the Art gallery provides an transition from the gardens to the art collection. French and German garden sculptures-terra-cotta,marble,and bronze-line the perimeter of the Loggia, backed by the foliage of the gardens.

Jean-Antoine Houdon(1741-1828),Portrait of a Lady(so-called Baroness de la Houze),1777, marble, H.39 in (99.1cm).

Louis-Claude Vasse (1716-1772) Bust of a Girl, marble H. 18 1/2in (47cm).

Jean-Antoine Houdon (1741-1828), Sabine Houdon, marble H. 17 3/4in (45.1cm).

Silver-Gift Rosewater Ewer and Basin, London, 1607, maker's mark: LA, ewer H. 14 3/8in (36.5cm), basin D. 17 7/8in (45.2cm).

This elaboratery decorated ewer and basin is an example of a work of art created from a hygienic necessity. Before the days of forks (which did not come into common use in England until the late seventeenth century) much eating was done with the fingers. Hence it was necessary to wash the hands before rising from the table. Servants, spproaching the guests in order of precedence, poured scented water from the ewer over the hands into the basin held below.

Silver-Gift Standing Cup and Cover (Steeple Cup), London, 1661, maker's mark: AF,H. 19in (48.3cm).

Silver Candelabra, a pair, London, 1765,maker;Thomas Heming, H. 29 1/4in (74.3cm).

Clodion (Claude Michel) (1738-1814), Woman Playing with a Child, terra-cotta, H. 18in (45.7cm).

John Flaxman R.A. (1755-1826), The Shield of Achilles, 1821, silver-gilt,cast by Rundell, Bridge & Rundell, diam. 36 1/2in (92.7cm).

When modelling the Shield of Achilles, Flaxman followed carefully the long description contained in Book XVIII of Homer's Iliad. The work, which Flaxman's contemporaries considered his masterpiece, was originally modelled in plaster. From the plaster, four silver-gilt casts were made, for George IV, the Duke of York, the Duke of Northumberland, and Lord Lonsdale. The Huntington cast is one made for the Duke of York.