Antique Bronze Diana of Gabies Sculpture, Signed Dethy, After the Antique — France, Late 19th Century

The Diana of Gabies is one of the great discoveries of the age of the Grand Tour. Unearthed in 1792 on the Borghese estate outside Rome, the marble original — a goddess caught in an intimate, unguarded moment, adjusting her tunic rather than posing for eternity — struck the neoclassical world as something entirely different from the frontal, composed statuary it had been reproducing for a century. Napoleon acquired it in 1807; it entered the Louvre in 1820; and from that moment, the great Parisian bronze foundries began casting reductions of it for the drawing rooms and libraries of anyone who wished to own a piece of the Louvre's collection. To place a Diana of Gabies on one's mantelpiece was to announce a specific kind of taste: formed in Rome, confirmed in Paris, expressed without explanation.

This figure is French, late nineteenth century, signed Dethy on the front edge of the base, cast in bronze with a deep, even brown patina built over more than a century of indoor life. The subject is faithfully rendered: the goddess stands in a moment of arrested movement, one arm raised to the shoulder to fasten her garment, the chiton falling in layered folds from the raised arm across the body and gathering at the hip, the feet bare on a plain square plinth. The drapery is the test of any cast after this original — note how the folds change character as they cross the body, tight and linear at the raised arm, looser and more planar across the torso, finally breaking into irregular cascades at the hem, the variety that separates a bronze cast from a sculptor's model from one cast from a mechanical reduction. The patina has settled into the recesses of the drapery and brightened on the high points of the shoulder and face in the way that only a century of careful handling produces.

Whoever kept this figure before you preserved it with evident care. The patina is consistent and attractive; the base is sound and sits flat; the signature is legible. At 43 cm she commands a mantelpiece, a library console, or a pedestal, and she will be recognised by anyone who has spent time in the Louvre.

It arrives professionally packed and fully insured. All duties and import charges are our responsibility — you pay nothing beyond the listed price. Returns are accepted within 30 days.

DETAILS:
Size: Height 43 cm (16.9 in) · Base 13.9 × 11.3 cm (5.5 × 4.5 in) — roughly the height of a standard table lamp base
Material: bronze, deep brown patina
Style/Period: French neoclassical, after the antique — signed Dethy, late 19th century
Weight: 5.976 kg (13.2 lb)
Shipping: professionally packed, fully insured, worldwide — all import duties paid by us, nothing to settle on delivery
Condition: very good; deep even patina throughout; base sound and sits flat; signature legible
Returns: accepted within 30 days

Read our condition standard. Please ask if you need additional photographs or measurements.

Worldwide delivery is included in the price. Every piece is individually packed, tracked and fully insured. No shipping charge is added at checkout. If your destination is not listed, please contact us before ordering.

Maison Jaspers pays US tariffs and import duties. For other destinations, local import taxes and duties may apply and are payable by the recipient. Contact us before ordering if you need destination-specific guidance.

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