Neoclassical Day & Night Roundels

Beautiful pair of c. 1825 repousse? sheet-brass roundels depicting Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen's 'Day' and 'Night'. As opposites they represent the two halves of a day, and together symbolise the wholeness of a day. 'Day', oriented right, is personified as a flower-showering angel actively flying across the sky with a torch-bearing putto proudly symbolizing the light and the sun. 'Night', facing left, depicts a side portrait of a flying angel having eyes closed and wearing a crown of poppy flowers embracing a sleeping child with wing-spread owl, the animal of the night, at right. Bertel Thorvaldsen (c. 1770 - 1844) sculpted the original plaques in 1815 from marble, the originals now being in Thorvaldsens Museum, Copenhagen, Denmark. Soon after their initial exhibition, the roundels became wildly popular internationally with many reproductions being made to feed the demand. It is rare to find a set such as these in brass as most period reproductions found are in plaster. Each roundel has original black painted field with both bronze washed central reliefs and faux-painted integral frame. A superb set with iconic imagery that has since become a visual symbol of Nordic early neoclassicism.