A Pair Of Large Belgian Patinated Bronze Figures, Circa 1900

A Pair Of Large Belgian Patinated Bronze Figures, Circa 1900. H. De Rycke (Belgian, 19th–20th Century) ‘norbert’ And ‘fernand’

A fine and unusually large pair of Belgian patinated bronze figures by H. De Rycke, entitled Norbert and Fernand, depicting two boys engaged in contrasting pursuits.

Fernand is modelled as a young crab fisherman, standing barefoot upon a naturalistically cast rocky shore. Dressed in loose working clothes, he holds his fishing line aloft, suspending his catch from his raised hand. His animated pose and informal costume contrast with his companion Norbert, who is smartly dressed in jacket, breeches and boots and carries a violin beneath his arm, the bow held in his outstretched hand.

De Rycke was a Belgian sculptor active around the turn of the 20th century. Biographical information concerning the artist remains surprisingly scarce, and his full Christian name does not appear to have been securely established in the standard readily accessible artist databases; consequently the artist is most appropriately catalogued by the form in which he signed his work, H. De Rycke. The present bronzes demonstrate his considerable ability as a sculptor of naturalistic genre subjects, particularly figures drawn from childhood and everyday Flemish life.

The bronzes were produced by the Steyaert foundry, part of the established tradition of artistic bronze casting in Ghent during the later 19th century. Period records document Karel Steyaert working as a bronze founder in Ghent and undertaking important sculptural commissions, including the casting of Frans Joris’s monument to the Flemish writer Hendrik Conscience in the 1880s.

The pairing is especially appealing. Rather than two repetitions of a single theme, De Rycke presents contrasting aspects of childhood: the barefoot young fisherman associated with the coast and physical labour, and the carefully dressed young musician representing a more cultivated domestic world.

Each signed H. De Rycke, individually titled ‘Norbert’ and ‘Fernand’, and bearing the foundry mark ‘K. Vlaamsche Bronzen, Steyaert’.

NORBERT: H 61  x  W 23  x  D 23cm

FERNAND: H 61  x  W 30  x  D 22cm