Lost Art IV: After a stolen Napoleonic Imperial Eagle finial Sculpture

After a Napoleonic Imperial Eagle finial or standard, early 19th century, unknown maker. Unusual in my Lost Art Collection as a reproduction of an historically important piece that would not come under everyone's heading of art, but inextricably caught up in a significant in recent art history. The original was stolen along with several important paintings and other pieces from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, USA in 1990 and never recovered. The original would have been made of brass but they were often mistaken for gold due to their highly polished appearance and that may have lead to the thieves stealing the example this work is based on. By Oliver Toovey, painted clay sculpture, 2020. The Lost Art Collection With this collection, I have sought to recreate, to the limit of my ability, works of great art that can no longer be enjoyed by humanity as they were stolen and never (as yet) recovered. I’ve used modern, not contemporary, materials and sizes are close but not identical to the originals, with a recreation of the artist’s signatures along with mine to ensure they wouldn’t be passed off as forgeries. I’ve learnt a great deal about the techniques employed by these old masters during this project, but invariably my own technique creeps in too. As I’ve by definition not been able to work from the originals, I’ve worked from photographs. Some of these only exist in black-and-white and therefore these works incorporate my own ideas regarding colours, as well as research into what is known about the works and copies that exist. The differences will clearly extend beyond how closely I’ve replicated the artwork in terms of image and colour, into aspects of how the paint was applied to the canvas, the aging it would have gone through and conservation efforts over the years. This wasn’t about necessarily recreating perfectly what the artwork would look like if found today but closer to when it was originally created. My goal was to try and bring some of these artworks back to life to allow appreciation beyond just a black and white photograph. I feel like a key strategy in increasing the likelihood of eventual recovery of these works is keeping them in the public consciousness and I hope this project can aid that in a small way.