Figures from the fire: J. Pierpont Morgan's ancient bronzes at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art

This beautiful publication presents a collection of exquisite ancient bronzes from the
Wadsworth Atheneum that were collected by John Pierpont Morgan. It accompanies a
special exhibition of the bronzes at Bowdoin College.
This fully illustrated catalogue presents highlights of the ancient bronzes that were
collected by J. Pierpont Morgan and are currently in the collection of the Wadsworth
Atheneum. Purchased between 1904 and 1916, the bronzes were given to the museum
by Morgan’s son in 1917. Morgan was a passionate collector and spent years of his life
acquiring exquisite works of art. He had a discerning eye and discriminating taste, and his
driving motivation was to find works of quality and beauty. His Greek and Roman bronzes
include a range of figure and vessel types: males and females, gods and mortals, humans
and animals and hybrid mythological creatures, free-standing statuettes, and furniture
embellishments. This is the first exhibition and publication to consider the bronzes as a
group.
Morgan chose each work of art for its exquisite craftsmanship, its quality of
composition and execution, and its preservation. These objects represent the very best of
ancient Mediterranean bronze sculpture, with carefully rendered clothing, hair, and fur,
and adorned with inlays of silver and other luxury materials. Showcasing different types
of objects and figures that were made in bronze in the ancient world, this exhibition and
book demonstrate the high level of quality that these works of art could achieve.
The bronzes are important not only for their provenance and place in America’s
‘Gilded Age’, but also as highly significant individual works of art that represent the best
of ancient bronzeworking. New high-resolution photography of each work of art will allow
readers to appreciate their intricate details of craftsmanship, including copper and silver
inlay. This focused publication will also present current research on these exceptional
objects to help readers better understand how they were made and what they represented
in an ancient context.