Masterpieces of the J. Paul Getty Museum: European Sculpture

The Getty Museum's collection of European sculpture ranges in date from the late fifteenth century to the very early twentieth and includes a wide variety of media: marble, bronze, alabaster, terra-cotta, plaster, wood, ivory, and gold. The earliest sculpture is the mysterious Saint Cyricus by Francesco Laurana; the latest is a shield-like image of Medusa by the eccentric Italian sculptor Vincenzo Gemito. Among the more than forty works includes in this handsomely illustrated volume are Antico's Bust of a Young Man, a satyr designed for Fontainebleau by Cellini, Giambologna's Female Figure, Bernini's Boy with a Dragon, Apollo Crowning Himself by Canova, and the Bust of Jean-Leon Gerome by Carpeaux. The Museum's splendid collection of Mannerist and early Baroque bronzes are well represented in the volume, with the inclusion of such works as Johann Gregor van der Schardt's Mercury and Adriaen de Vries's Juggling Man and Rearing Horse. In addition, each piece presented is described in detail by members of the Getty Museum's curatorial staff.