A Large Bronzed Zinc Statue of a Newfoundland Dog, Cast By The Moritz Geiss Foundry

Object Description

A Large Bronzed Zinc Statue of a Newfoundland Dog, Cast By The Moritz Geiss Foundry, Berlin, From the model by Karl Heinrich Möller (German, 1802-1882).

Signed ‘M Geiss Berlin’ to plaque.

Germany, Circa 1850-70.

The Royal Prussian Iron Foundry of Louis Friebel exhibited ‘A Newfoundland Dog’ in bronze after the model by Karl Möller at the 1850 Berlin Academy Exhibition and at the 1851 Great Exhibition in London. Also exhibited in 1851 were a pair of companion statues of ‘A Boy with a Newfoundland Dog’ and ‘A Girl with a Bulldog’ in bronze.

The Moritz foundry of Berlin exhibited their bronzed zinc statuary in 1851 and were well known to Möller, a fellow Berliner. It was presumably after seeing Möller’s statues of dogs at the 1851 exhibition that Moritz obtained permission to cast them in patinated zinc, known as ‘bronzed zinc’. This is evidenced by the ‘bronzed zinc’ examples of the ‘Newfoundland Dog’ offered here and the pair of ‘A Boy with a Newfoundland Dog’ and ‘A Girl with a Bulldog’, which appeared at auction in 2010. The whereabouts of the bronze examples is unknown and no other bronzed zinc casts by Geiss of any of these models are recorded.

Zinc can be readily melted making it well suited to casting statuary and M. Geiss is credited with perfecting zinc casting. As the colour of zinc statuary was considered unfavourable, Geiss invented a process with imparted the zinc with ‘a metallic surface, which gives to the cast the perfect aspect of Florentine bronze’ (Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations, Official Descriptive and Illustrated Catalogue, 1851, No. 267 ‘Geiss, M. Berlin – Manufacturer. p. 1063).

Object History

Karl Heinrich Möller (German, 1802-1882)
Möller was born and worked in Berlin, as a pupil of August Kiss (1802-1865) and then assistant of Christian Daniel Rauch (German, 1777–1857). In 1831 his undertook restorations of the Antiquities at Charlottenhof Palace, Sanssouci. He was appointed an academic artist in 1841 and moved to Paris in 1855. In Berlin he became a professor at the Berlin Academy in 1861 and fellow in 1869. He worked in Italy in 1872 before returning to Berlin. His recorded works include ‘Bacchus with Panther’, ‘Arion on Dolphin’, ‘Cupid Taming a Lion’ and ‘Child with Newfoundland Terrier’ (formerly in the Berlin National Museum).

Moritz Geiss
In 1814 Johann Conrad Geiss established and iron foundry in Berlin, and his son Moritz Geiss (1805-75), took over the firm in 1830. Under his auspices it became the largest manufacturer of cast-zinc statues in Berlin, producing furniture and household metalware designed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel as well as sculpture with the model collection including over 100 antique and contemporary subjects. Geiss received commissions for the Prussian Crown and purchases were made for the country homes of mobility in Branitz and Neustrelitz. Important monuments in Berlin had statuary made by Geiss, including the Opera House, New Museum and City Hall.

The company had displays at the industrial exhibitions in Mainz (1842), Berlin (1844), London (1851), Munich (1854), Paris (1855) and London (1862). Geiss’ display of statuary at the 1851 Crystal Palace Exhibion was considerable. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert purchased eleven states by Geiss to decorate the gardens of Osborne House where they still reside: Urania, Euterpe, L’Adorant, Ganymede, Venus of Capua, Meleager, Bacchus, Venus de Medici, Ceres, Medea and Venus d’Arles. Geiss also showed a copper-plated ‘Amazon on Horseback Attacked by a Lion’ which was considered a highlight of the exhibition, and it was bought by the gun-maker Samuel Colt. Around the time of the Crystal Palace Exhibition, Geiss also had premises at 64 Sackville Street, Piccadilly, in London.

Object Literature

Kunstausstellung der Königlichen Akademie der Künste, Berlin 1850, no. 875:
p. 78, ‘Großer Neufundländer Hund in Erzguß; Modell von Möller’.

Popular guide to the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations, London, 1851:
p. 6, ‘Newfoundland Dog’ in bronze, after the model by Moeller’.

Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, Reports By the Juries, London, 1852:
p. 685, ‘M. C. Moller, of Berlin, for two bronze groups representing ‘A Boy with a Newfoundland Dog’, and ‘A Girl with a Bulldog’. (Prussia, No. 292, p. 1066.)
p. 707, ‘Friebel (bronze foundry) ‘A Newfoundland Dog, after a model by Moller, and remarkably well cast and tooled, and a number of smaller figures were exhibited by this artist’.

Object Details