ANTHONY DE FRANCISCI
United States, 1887-1964

"Honeymoon"

Lacquered and gilt polychromed bronze over black Belgian marble orb and plinth
Signed "Anthony de Francisci N.A." and cold-stamped "M. Scoma" foundry mark

21" H x 17 1/2" W; base 6 1/4" W/D

Essay
This fine Art Deco composition of Honeymoon is an exceedingly rare example of Anthony de Francisci's figurative work. A departure from the medalist and coinage that he is most famous for, he modeled numerous figural works that were well-received but remained rather personal works that were never produced for large-scale sale to the public. This model was sold once before in on March 15th of 1995 under the name "Twilight", though we know its name is "Honeymoon" as the plaster model was gifted by Teresa de Francisci to the Smithsonian Museum of Art and remains in their permanent collection (acc. no. 1966.51.3).

The composition is a highly stylized depiction of celestial romance and features a nude couple embracing within a swirling mass of clouds forms, their bodies entwined as they float gently beneath a crescent moon. The figures are rendered with fluid, idealized musculature, their expressions evoking classical references to lunar deities and love allegories. The cloud mass is dramatized with baroque movement, trailing in an upward spiral that visually balances the composition’s sweeping asymmetry. The tendrils of loose clouds move like fingers, almost like the hand of heaven is embracing the couple and protecting them under the lunar light.

This example was executed in bronze with a lacquered gilt polychrome surface that is nuanced and highlights the figures with wonderful varying hues. It is raised on a steel rod over a polished black Belgian marble central orb on a stepped plinth.

The work was cast by the Mario Scoma Foundry of New York, an atelier based in Brooklyn that was active in producing high-quality bronze editions in the early 20th century.

A powerful work of the Art Deco movement that remains exceedingly rare, the cast is a fine translation of the underlying plaster housed in the Smithsonian into the more permanent material of bronze. It is an object that should be housed in a museum collection.

Condition: Trace wear throughout the patina, showing rubbing to the lacquer and underlying gilt polychrome. Light wear to the marble, scuffing and very minor chips. Some chipping around where the steel rod comes through the marble orb to connect with the bronze. Carefully cleaned, ready to place.

Biography
Anthony de Francisci (1887–1964) was a classically trained sculptor whose work, though most famously tied to American coinage, extended into allegorical bronzes and commemorative reliefs. Born in Palermo, Sicily, he began his study of art while in his native land initially under his father as a stone carver. He immigrated to the United States as a teenager in 1905, arriving at a time when American sculpture was deeply influenced by Beaux-Arts ideals and national symbolism.

Settling in New York City, de Francisci enrolled at the Cooper Union and the National Academy of Design, where he came under the influence of established artists like James Earle Fraser, Hermon Atkins MacNeil, and Adolph Weinman, to whom he was a chief assistant for some time. Their mentorship left a lasting imprint on his approach to form—technically exacting, rooted in tradition, but open to expressive surface modeling. He also studied with the Art Students' League.

He exhibited a small model of a dancing figure known as Bayadere at the Academy in 1916 and in 1919 a small bronze sculpture of Mother and Child. In 1917 he exhibited West Wind and East Wind in terra-cotta at the Architectural League and he executed a wood polychrome triptych for the All Saints Church of New York around the same time. He came to national attention in 1921 when he won a U.S. government competition to design a silver dollar marking the end of World War I. His design would become known as the Peace Dollar and it was at least loosely based on his wife Teresa, her forward-facing profile an embodiment of Liberty. It became the last silver dollar struck for circulation in the U.S. and enjoyed minting years spanning 1921 to 1928 as well as a brief resumption during 1934 and 1935.

His designed numerous commemorative medals including the Maine Centennial Medal (1920), the Monroe Doctrine Centennial Medal (1923), and the United States Sesquicentennial Medal (1926). He was also the designer of the World War II Honorable Service Lapel Button, informally known as the “ruptured duck,” awarded to returning American soldiers.

While his medals reached a broad public, de Francisci also created more sculptural works, some of which now reside in major museum collections. The Smithsonian American Art Museum holds several of his pieces, among them Honeymoon, a plaster model that shows a couple reclining amid stylized clouds beneath a crescent moon that was donated in 1966 by de Francisci's wife. In their rather extensive holding of his work, the Smithsonian also holds plaster examples of Nirvana, The Bayadere, Flying Fish, Pot of Basil and Memory. Another notable work, Creation, was commissioned in 1935 for the Society of Medalists and is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Between 1912 and 1949, he exhibited with the National Academy of Design, showing a steady output of portrait plaques, allegorical reliefs, and commemorative medallions. Though his reputation was long anchored in the success of the Peace Dollar, his broader body of work reveals a sculptor equally capable of large vision and quiet poetic detail.

References:

• E. Benezit Dictionary of Artists, Vol. V, Gründ, 2006, p. 996

 

ref. 503LYI28E