A river god for mannerist Munich The discovery of a wax model for a sculpture decorating a fountain by Hubert Gerhard

Abstract

A river god for mannerist Munich The discovery of a wax model for a sculpture decorating a fountain by Hubert Gerhard In 2006, the Louvre acquired a small figure sculpted in wax. Of highly refined execution, it represents a reclining river god and, down to the slightest detail, matches a bronze sculpture that decorated a monumental fountain by Hubert Gerhard, a sculptor to the Munich court who was the pupil of Jean Bologne. This fountain, built in 1587, was the first in Germany to be inspired by an Italian model; when it was erected in the public square in Munich it enjoyed immense prestige. In the centre stood an equestrian figure of Duke Ferdinand of Bavaria. The sixteen bronze figures decorating the rim of the basin are still in the Munich Residenz but the central column has gone. Research undertaken by us has shown that the wax model is a mode/in executed by the sculptor and that, in all likelihood, it belonged to a scale model of the entire fountain, the existence of which is attested by documentary evidence. It is not known what became of the other wax figures. Not possessing any other specimen of the bozetti or inodelli used by the northern pupil of Jean Bologne, this wax figure represents, over and above its aesthetic qualities, a major testimony to the sculptor's methods of working.