Genius Bornii
by ZAUNER, Franz Anton, Plaster, graphitiyed, height 79 cm
The Tyrolian Zauner, Austria’s most important Neoclassical sculptor, received a commission to produce a monument to Ignaz von Born. The work survives only as a bronzed plaster cast of the model showing an unclothed and winged male spirit holding an unclothed female statuette in his right hand. In its left hand the spirit hold the chain that fetters an owl squatting on the ground. The two attributes stand for light and darkness.