Ferdinando Marinelli Artistic Foundry Original Bronze "Louis the Fourteenth" Sculpture Signed & Numbered 6/50 (W/$1.5 Million Appraisal & COA) - This stunning piece is an original bronze sculpture cast by the world famous Ferdinando Marinelli Artistic Foundry of Firenze, Italy. The sculpture shows wonderful attention to detail, and depicts a Louis the Fourteenth on horse back. He is sitting strong and unafraid while his steed is reared up in swift motion. The piece is signed "Fuse Marinelli Firenze", and is numbered 6/50. This sculpture will also come with an appraisal for $1.5 million, and a certificate of authenticity. The piece measures approx. 28"H x 33"W x 13"D. Ferdinando Marinelli Artistic Foundry is one of the last remaining Florentine foundries, producing works in bronze utilizing the Renaissance technique of lost-wax, and this is a spectacular chance to own a piece by one of the most well known foundries of the 20th century. Marinelli Foundry opened in 1905 by Ferdinando Marinelli, and was present internationally as early as 1929, when it produced the monumental sculpture "La Carretta dei Pioneri" (The Pioneer’s Cart) carved by the Uruguayan artist Jose Belloni. Marinelli Foundry received important commissions thanks to the esteem with which Ferdinando was held by the sculptor Antonio Maraini. Maraini choose him as his caster when he received the commission from Pope Pius XI to execute the panels that decorate the newly built large staircase at the entrance to the Vatican Museums, boosting the foundry's already rising fame. After casting the monumental staircase, the Foundry produced the tomb and the death mask of Pope Pius XI, and the "Porta Santa" (Holy Door) of St. Peter’s Basilica. Such collaborations subsequently permitted Marinelli to receive additional commissions from churches in Rome, including the central doors of the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, after the drawings of Ludovico Pogliaghi, and in 1951, the doors of Sant’Eugenio designed by the engineer Enrico Galeazzi. At the end of WWII, the foundry created "Sacrifice", one of the four golden horses that dominate the Arlington Memorial Bridge in Washington, D.C. The piece was donated in 1949 by the Italian Ambassador Alberto Tarchiani to the American people on behalf of the Italian Government, and the quality of the cast earned the Fonderia Marinelli the "Diploma of Honor" conferred by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce.