Paper short abstract:

The formal similarities between the lead sculptures of Fronteira Palace, in Lisbon, and the golden lead statues of the Herrenhausen gardens, in Hannover, stays as an evidence of objects of art serial production and of the level of globalization sculpture’s markets attained.

Paper long abstract:

Figures imitating famous archetypes of Antiquity and Early Modern period and made of lead were a popular replacement in renaissance and baroque garden sculpture for the far more expensive original figures made out of bronze. These copies market was especially successful in northern Europe. The case-study we seek to present in this conference will stand as an evidence of the level of globalization in 17th century sculpture market and will prove Fronteira's lead sculptures as the most antique group of this typology in Europe.

Twenty-seven figures of lead ennobled with gold plating were bought by the Hanoverian court from 1689 until 1692 in the Netherlands to decorate their ballroom in the garden, the first "Heckentheater" in Germany and the only one that still exists. These statues were bought between 1689 and 1691 from Barent Dronrijp who had acquired the studio stock with casting molds from Johan Larson's legacy. In 1673, similar lead sculptures already existed at the Great parterre of Fronteira Palace which were probably imported from the same studio. Johan Larson and his brothers were sculptors in Den Haag and London and supplied several courts in England, Netherlands and Germany with all kinds of statues. So it might be that our Portuguese statues were bought in London or in the Netherlands. This demand is probably explained by the combination of the relatively low prices and quick delivery for lead figures, when compared to sculptures in marble or bronze.