Franz Xaver Bergman (1861–1936)  (attr.) Vienna, Austria.

Bull pen wipe c. 1900

Cold painted bronze, boar’s hair bristles, horn.

For information see: Art Bronzes, Mich. Forrest (Schiffer, 1988).

H:  5 1/4” x L:  11”

Franz Xaver Bergman (1861–1936) was the owner of a Viennese foundry who produced numerous patinated and cold-painted bronze Oriental, erotic and animal figures, the latter often humanized or whimsical, humorous objects d’art.

A well-known anamalier at the turn-of-the century, the sculptor Franz Bergman created a number of small bronzes in a variety of subject matter.  Other figurative works were informed by the Jugendstil/Art Nouveau style and the European taste for the exotic as is found in his figures of rug merchants and camels.  His animal sculptures, however, capture the Viennese tradition of naturalistic bronzes.  The quality of the bronze casting shows tremendous detail, which was carefully brought out through the applied patination process known as cold painting.