An italian bronze group of Castor and Pollux, after the antique, by Francesco Righetti (1749-1819), dated 1792, Rome. 

signed on the back of the integrally cast base, F RIGHETTI ROMÆ 1792, on later marble base. 12 3/4 in.; 32.4 cm. Estimation: 40,000 - 60,000 USD

PROVENANCE: The Cyril Humphris Collection, sold Sotheby's, New York, January 11, 1995, lot 143

NOTE DE CATALOGUE: This group was designed after the ancient marble group first recorded in the Ludovisi collection in 1623 and now in the Museo del Prado, Madrid. Many copies were made including one by Antoine Coysevox for Louis XIV at Versailles.
Francesco Righetti studied under the Roman silversmith Luigi Valadier and quickly succeeded him in the reproduction of ancient compositions. Righetti printed a listing, including a bronze group of Castor and Pollux, among some 25groups, 78 individual figures, 46 busts, and other decorative elements, primarily after the antique, available for order in Rome in 1794 (Haskell and Penny, op. cit., fig. 90, no. 19).

RELATED LITERATURE: Francis Haskell and Nicholas Penny, Taste and the Antique, New Haven, 1981

Sotheby's. Important Old Master Paintings and Sculpture. New York | 31 janv. 2013 www.sothebys.com