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Description: Amazone signed 'Franz Stuck' (on front of the base); and stamped with the foundry mark 'M쳌nchen Guss C. Leyrer' on the side of the base) bronze with dark brown patina Height: 251/2 in. (64.8 cm.); Length: 15 in. (38 cm.) First conceived in 1897 and cast in the artist's lifetime before 1906 PROVENANCE By descent directly from the artist to the present owner. LITERATURE A. Heilmann, Die Plastik Franz von Stucks. Studien zur Monographie und Formentwicklung, Dissertation, Technische Universit„t, Munich, 1985, pp. 152-62, 179-91, 390-93, no. 4. NOTES First conceived in 1897, the year that Stuck began work on his Villa in Munich, Amazone represents one of his most famous sculptures as well as an enduring theme in his work. The subject of the Amazonian female warrior first appears in Stuck's paintings around 1897, but he soon realised the dramatic potential of this theme with the present work. The carefully balanced composition, with its smooth, highly finished surface is typical of Stuck's neo-classical approach at this stage of his career and the idealised female rider throwing a spear is another example of Stuck's fascination with beautiful but deadly femmes fatales. The present sculpture was frequently paired with Verwundeter zentaur (lot 56), by Stuck himself, both in architectural settings and also in later paintings.