Roman Bronze Studios

Place: New York City

Biography:

Roman Bronze Works, now operated as Roman Bronze Studios, is a bronze foundry in New York City. Established in 1897 by Riccardo Bertelli, it was the first American foundry to specialize in the lost-wax casting method, and was the country's pre-eminent art foundry during the American Renaissance (ca. 1876-1917). The foundry trademarked its namesake, Roman Bronze Works in 1900. In 1908, the foundry built a home and studio for sculptor Harry Merwin Shrady at White Plains, New York. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982 as the Leo Friedlander Studio. Long a sub-contractor to Louis Comfort Tiffany's Tiffany Studios, the foundry moved in 1927 to Tiffany's red brick factory in Corona, Queens, New York. The General Bronze Corporation purchased the Roman Bronze Works in 1928 and lasted for twenty years, up until 1948, during which it produced some of its finest bronze artworks from sculptors such as Paul Manship and Rene Chambellan to Lee Lawrie.