A Collection of Historical and Art Medals, the Property of a European Collector

Dance of Death, c.1905, a uniface cast bronze plaque by H.S. Lerche, skeletal figure with arms raised, 56 x 40mm. Very fine and virtually as made, signed by the artist on the back; unique (£50-80)

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of Historical and Art Medals, the Property of a European Collector.

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Hans Stolenberg Lerche (1867-1920), Dusseldorf-born son of a Norwegian artist, travelled to Florence in 1886, then worked in Paris with Carrière from 1894-1900. He settled in Rome from 1900 and is understood to have been at his most active from a medallic viewpoint during the next decade. Lerche’s work had been largely forgotten since his death and only with the recent appearance of some of his pieces at auction (BDW 5, 39-46, and BDW 18, 438-41), together with publicity from the 1995 Paris exhibition ‘Les Tresors Retrouvés des Ateliers d’Artistes au Temps de Rodin’ and specifically the collection formed by Charles Auzoux from 1870 to 1910, has he become a ‘rediscovered’ artist