LONDON.- Medardo Rosso is the most famous sculptor you have probably never heard of. Considered by critics of his time as without doubt, the greatest living sculptor, it is only in relatively recent years that his work is again receiving the acclaim it so justly deserves.
Chiswick Auctions will be offering Medardo Rossos wax head of a laughing woman known as Petite Rieuse in the forthcoming Fine European Works of Art sale on December 5, 2018. The sculpture was originally sold by the artists granddaughter to the important art dealer Philip Granville of Lords Gallery in 1965 and is sold with the original invoice. It was sold at the same time as the Grande Rieuse, which is now in the permanent collection of the Tate Gallery. The Petite Rieuse featured in the seminal exhibition at the Hayward Gallery Pioneers of Modern Sculpture in 1973 and joins a rarefied group of casts that are in museums across the globe.
Both the Grande Rieuse in the Tate Gallery and the Petite Rieuse offered by Chiswick Auctions are thought to be posthumous casts by the sculptors son, Francesco Rosso, who was authorised to make the casts after the sculptors death from his original moulds. On 12th September 2018 Chiswick Auctions sold another Medardo Rosso wax head entitled Bambina Ridente, which was also a posthumous cast for £180,000 hammer price (£225,000 including buyers premium). This ground-breaking result was the highest auction price ever achieved for a Medardo Rosso sculpture catalogued as a posthumous cast; and demonstrated that evidence-based due diligence and transparency when cataloguing more problematic pieces is the best route to achieve strong prices at auction.
The Petite Rieuse is estimated at £70,000 100,000.