Arno Breker being the Reich's most noteworthy artist leaned heavily into neoclassical themes of centuries past. These large reliefs and sculptures would adorn the most important buildings within the Third Reich.

Breker enjoyed great success and lived well under the National Socialist party and after the war remained working as an artist into the 1980's before his death in 1991. His affiliation with the party followed him however and an exhibition 40 years after the war managed to garner a protest.

This particular piece is a scaled down example and would have been part of a much larger project of the triumph arch in Berlin of 120 meters in height. Breker would be responsible for the corner pillars of the arch in conjunction with other larger motif's of note and would consist of 50 combatants and 18 horses. Anyone familiar with Breker could only imagine what this project would have looked like upon completion, staggering would no doubt be an understatement.

The importance of art and architecture during the Reich, one of the most famous photos of note is of Hitler, Speer, and Breker, taken shortly after the fall of France.

Hermann Historica Auction #59

(Arno Breker Relief ( The Victim ) 1940)