About a century ago regions from Moscow to Madrid and Newcastle to Naples the Middle-Class homes of the time bore fantastically sculpted mantle pieces of bronze Roman art. Unfortunately the horrors of the First World War brought the age of Romance to an end and brought in the age of realism. Michelangelo was able to watch the retrieval of Laocoön and his sons overwhelmed by constricting serpents, and within six years the leading Roman goldsmith, Christofaro Caradosso, proposed to make a miniature replica of the sculpted scene in gold for his patron Isabella d‘Este . He did not complete this task, but small bronzes of it followed soon after. With such replicas, made to perfection, every pope and prince could possess, in small, every masterpiece of sculpture — whether from antiquity or by Michelangelo and Bernini — within the confines of his drawing room. This is being continued today by being shown through the Wallace collection.
"Beautiful Bronzes from Ancient Rome| Art | This Is London." London News | London Evening Standard - London's Newspaper. Web. 28 May 2010.
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